


Close to Home

by Merrywetherweather



Series: Close to Home [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Attempted Seduction, Bad Puns, Cat Puns, Christmas, Christmas Party, Clubbing, Engagement, F/F, Fish Puns, Fluff, Halloween, Humanstuck, I got hella snark up in here, Italian!Karkat, Like crazy snark, M/M, Masturbation, Mobsters, Neighbor au, Neighbors, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Puppets, Riding, Sad Backstory, Scent Kink, Seduction, Smut, Snark, Thanksgiving, cause i have a shit ton, davekat - Freeform, how many flavors of puns are there really???, knightshipping, maid uniform kink, talk of domestic violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-02 17:04:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 33,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1059366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrywetherweather/pseuds/Merrywetherweather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a davekat, neighbor au. I'm working on making this long and developmental. I'm talkin the daily lives of Dave and Karkat living next to each other as they discover their feelings. This baby is gonna have holiday chapters. Can I get a holla? It is 2:17 in the morning and I will regret and edit this summary later!</p><p>*Edit* I have decided to keep this summary as it perfectly sums everything up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Move-In Day

**Author's Note:**

> I am gonna try to update as frequently as possible. I'm thinking once every two weeks or around that time, since I am still in college. If I feel like writing extra I'll deliver early.

            Karkat picked up the last cardboard box from the back of his old beat-up Buick. Today he started life on his own. Okay, so technically that started four years ago when he started college and insisted on living on campus. But now he had a degree; albeit a Bachelor’s in English, but a degree nonetheless. And he could get a job and join the adult world and do adult things, like living in his first apartment complex.

            The building was in pretty good condition. No graffiti and in a respectable part of town. It wasn’t too far away from his job at a local coffee shop so he could walk and not have to spend a lot on gas. He had checked out his apartment and everything seemed in okay working condition. The sink made a noise that resembled that of a dying orca when he turned on the faucet, but hey, no home was perfect.

            He walked into the building and settled the box down with a huff as he readied himself to ascend the steps. A downside to the complex was that there were five stories and it had no elevator. Karkat’s apartment was on the fifth floor.

            “Hey,” Karkat turned around. There stood a blond man, about a head taller than him, wearing a pair of shades that rested on the bridge of his nose, “You look like you need some help.”

            Karkat was a bit thrown off, “Actually, yeah, I could use some help.”

            The guy smirked, “Well, I hear there’s a decent moving company just down the street.”

            What a prick, “On second thought I’m going to just haul this shit up five floors and you can go fuck yourself with your own ego if you’re done stroking it to the idea of how you just burned the new guy. Later asshole!”

            Karkat picked up the box and tried to hurriedly abscond up the stairs. _What a douche!_ In his fury he lost his footing and tripped. He started to fall backwards. _Fuck!_ An arm went around his shoulders and a hand found his hip, steadying him as his box of belongings flew to the ground.

            Karkat stared up at the prick, “Falling for me already?”

            Karkat pushed the man’s face away and turned away to hide his blush, “FUCK OFF!” _Jesus! When had he gotten so close!_ He scrambled down the steps and started picking up his things.

            The guy actually came back down to help him, “So, what’s your name?”

            “…Karkat Vantas.”

“Oh my god. What the fresh fuck is this?”

            He was holding up one of Karkat’s novels.

            He was holding up one of Karkat’s _romance_ novels.

            “Give me that!” Karkat dove for the book but the man childishly held it out of reach.

            “Are you really into this shit? Where’s the appeal? Are there some X-rated scenes in here? Is that it?”

            “You’re an ass! I read it for character development! The characters are really interesting!”

            “’Alexandra was a normal girl… until she met Robbie. Now all she can think about is how his smile makes her see stars and how his…’ Wow. This isn’t just your average run of the mill romance novel. This is a grade-A piece of smut,” He peered down at Karkat after reading the summary on the back cover, “How can you be into this garbage?”

            Karkat swiped the book from him. His face was burning from anger or embarrassment or maybe both, “What right do you have to judge me? How can you honestly be getting on my case when you’re wearing those dorky sunglasses at this time of day? The sun is setting, Pilot Douche-Dick. You are relieved of duty and so are your stupid aviators.”

            “Oh. No. You did not just sass my shades. These babies are so fly, they’re like American Airlines.”

            “I. What?”

            “Bro, you wanna talk in slams? Dish it to me in some sick jams. Cause burns and stingin metaphors are what I’m hankerin for. If you can’t supply than this verbal confrontation’s win is mine.”

            “No. NO. Goodbye,” Karkat picked up the box and tried to ascend the steps yet again.

            The man followed, “But, bro, rhymes have the gumption to satisfy my consumption of all the sick fires I want to endure. Can’t you see the allure?”

            “Fuck you! I’m not your “bro”! Stop rapping! Why are you following me?!”

            Karkat stopped in front of his door and the man walked passed him and leaned against the door juxtapose to his, crossing his arms in a “cool kid” pose, “Because we’re neighbors. I’m Dave. Dave Strider.”

            Karkat tried to control his breathing as he dropped his box by the door. He was panting pretty hard, “Are… you… kidding me?!”

            “Nah. This is your reality. Congrats. All your secret prayers have been answered. You get to live next to the one and only Dave Strider.”

            Karkat went inside his apartment and slammed the door so fast, he actually feared for a minute that he might have broken the sound barrier.

            _What. The. HELL._


	2. Sick Beats But It's Bedtime

            Tired from unpacking, Karkat settled down with his computer in his bed. He still had to write a movie review for the latest release. It was a small job that he received little income for from an online newspaper, but he enjoyed it and a degree in English didn’t really help him find better work.

After sending his article to his editor he put the laptop aside and decided it was time he got some rest. He usually had trouble getting to sleep but perhaps tonight was his night? He was exhausted after all.

No sooner did he lay his head down on his pillow and closed his eyes did a loud continuous thumping open them again.

“Oh dear god.”

He threw off his sheets and paced out into the living room. The sound was coming from the other side of the wall. It was music. The kind of music one might find at a club. The only issue with this discovery was that this wasn’t a fucking club.

“Strider…,” Karkat muttered. He shared this wall with the insufferable dick.

Whatever! He’d just go out and buy ear plugs tomorrow so he could get some sleep. There was no reason to start trouble with new neighbors on his first day. And also he really didn’t want to confront the guy. He was a bit… extra? He didn’t know how to describe him.

He made fun of him and then hit on him. Consecutively. That was… impressive, but did he actually expect to get some sort of response aside from a solid “Fuck you.”? Dave was good looking. He had nice hair and under his clothes, Karkat could tell he had lean muscles. He was pretty pale with a small dusting of freckles on the bridge of his nose. It was… kind of cute…

WAIT. NO. FUCK THAT NOISE. Fuck that noise so hard. Karkat most certainly would not follow that train of thought for another moment. And while he was at it, fuck that literal noise blaring into his ear canals. No thoughts of douchebags that cause nothing but problems would be entertained.

On Karkat’s second night in his new apartment he bought himself the ear plugs. They were annoying. They didn’t fit right, they kept falling out, and they didn’t help with the vibrations the music caused. But he refused to talk to Strider. He would just have to endure it.

He lasted four days.

He hadn’t slept in FOUR DAYS, and it was starting to take its toll. The bags under his eyes were growing darker. He looked like a raccoon.

Karkat ran to Dave’s door and started to knock, “STRIDER!”

The music didn’t stop and no one answered. Karkat leaned against the door, “pleeeease…” He was on the brink of tears.

The music stopped and the door opened.  Karkat stumbled forward and then back peddled awkwardly.

“What’s up, buttercup?” What a smug assshole.

“I have been getting fuck-all sleep for the past four days and you have the gall to talk to me like you don’t know what you’re doing? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

His grin widened, “Honey, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Why didn’t you answer the door faster?”

“I was wearing my headphones. Didn’t really hear you at first. I’m putting together a set for my dj-ing gig at a nightclub for this weekend.”

“Yeah… well… shit,” Karkat put a hand to his head and swayed a bit.

Dave’s grin disappeared, “Hey, are you alright? You don’t look too hot.”

“Fuck…,” Everything went dark.

Karkat awoke to the smell of coffee being brewed and the feeling of silk sheets.

“Mmm…,” Wait. Where the hell was he? He sat up and Goddamn. Where were his clothes? He was wearing his boxers but his sweater and pants…? They were folded neatly on a dresser. Someone had undressed him. Someone had carried him to a bed and undressed him. He quickly scurried to the dresser and threw on his sweater. He had his jeans up to his thighs when Dave walked in and leaned in the doorway with a cup of coffee.

“Morning, babe.”

“Get the fuck out!”

“Why?”

“I’m indecent.”

Dave looked him up and down and smiled, “Nah. I’d say you’re pretty decent. Your legs are actually a little more than decent in all honesty.”

“I hate you!”

“That’s a reaction I’ve never gotten before from someone sleeping over here. It’s usually, “Thanks for the great time,” or, “Call me,”.”

“Why did you bring me in here?”

“You passed out in front of my door. I couldn’t just leave you there. Well, I guess I could of but I felt I had already fulfilled my be-a-shitty-person quota for the day.”

“You undressed me…”

“Yeah. You looked uncomfortable.”

“Did you plan this?”

“Plan what?”

“Luring me in here with your loud shitty club mixes so you could harass me some more? Do you feel any remorse? Are you happy that you succeeded?”

“Absolutely.”

“Oh my fucking Christ. I wanna strangle you.”

“If it makes you feel any better I didn’t plan on you taking a snooze of epic fucking proportions while you were coming to complain. Also I made coffee. How do you like yours?”

“I don’t want your coffee and… fuck! Hold on!” Karkat was struggling with getting his skinny jeans over his ass.

“Need some help?”

Karkat glared at him and Dave remained silent as he finally managed to pull them up all the way, “What time is it?”

“Two in the afternoon. You’ve been here for most of the day. I couldn’t take my afternoon nap because you were hoggin up the bed.”

“Shit! I’m gonna be late for my shift! I have work in fifteen minutes!” Karkat pushed past Dave and went to open the front door.

“Wait, sweetie,” Dave pulled him back and kissed him on the cheek, slipping a thermos into his hand, “Almost forgot your goodbye smooch.”

Karkat slammed the door on his way out, since he couldn’t think of the right words to convey his anger.

The rest of Karkat’s day went by smoothly. His boss wasn’t really upset with him for being late and the customers were amiable. He just didn’t know what he was going to do about Dave’s music making next door… Hmm… Dave. Making music. Okay! Fuck! Getting derailed again!

When Karkat returned home he had resigned himself to suffering through another sleepless night as he reluctantly crawled into bed. The sound of music drifted into his room and… it was… peaceful? It was quiet and soothing and made his eyelids heavy.

“That fucking bastard,” He grumbled as he comfortably slipped into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dave is kind of an ass but he makes up for it. Any guesses for where Karkat might work? Here's a hint: It's quite a classic fanfiction trope/au. It's going to be in the next update. Oh god. 4:31am and an Animal Science exam tomor-today. I am so fucked.


	3. Petty Theft and Coffee Shops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is Christmas Eve and I am not going to be deterred from my updating schedule. Happy holidays! :D

            When Karkat stepped outside the next morning on his way to work his newspaper was missing. He looked over and saw Dave’s paper had arrived without trouble. The guy didn’t really seem the type to read the paper, and Karkat liked checking his competition in the movie review section. Surely it wouldn’t hurt if he just swiped it for the day?

            So he snagged it and left for work.

            It was a windy autumn day outside. Not cold, just windy. The sky was clouded over but there wasn’t a drizzle. It was perfect.

            When he walked into the coffee shop his coworker, Nepeta, was there to greet him, “Karkitty! You’re fur minutes late! I told Equius you were already here and just had to use the bathroom.”

            “Thanks Nepeta,” She looked different today. She still wore her usual blue cat hat over a head of short, red hair that curved into her freckled face. Her hair contrasted nicely with her olive eyes, “You look strange today.”

            She blushed, “I… What?”

            “Did you do anything with your hair or something? Did you grow taller?” Karkat put a hand to her head and measured out where she was on him, “Nope still short.”

            “Fur a boy, you’re short too!” She protested, “Anyway, I put on a bit of make-up today. You didn’t notice?”

            Karkat shrugged, “Not really.”

            Nepeta looked a little crestfallen, “Oh…”

            “A-Although purrhaps it’s just the lighting in here?” Karkat tried to cheer her up with one of the cat puns she liked, even though it pained him to say it.

            She giggled, “Whatefur! Just get to work befur Equius catches us standing around doing nothing. You’re on register duty today.”

            Karkat let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know why, but there was always this kind of intense atmosphere whenever he engaged in conversation with Nepeta.

            Around lunch time Karkat was wiping down the counter when the bell on the front door rang, signaling the arrival of a new customer.

            “Welcome!” Karakt didn’t know how Nepeta could remain so cheerful all day.

            “Uh. Yeah. Hi,” Oh shit. Karkat knew that voice.

            Karkat turned around and there was Dave Strider standing in the entry way at his area of work. He looked as surprised as Karkat felt, until a small grin crept up onto his face.

            “Karkitty?” Nepeta’s voice jolted him out of his shock and he realized he was staring.

            “Karkitty?” Dave asked.

            “Shut the fuck up.”

            “Language!” He heard Equius call from the back room, where he was taking stock of the inventory.

            “What can I get for you today?” Karkat growled out.

            Dave leaned across the counter, “I was thinking of ordering an ornery barista to go. Any of those in stock?” Nepeta gasped.

            “I apologize, sir! I have not found any in my counting,” A voice called from the back again.

            “He wasn’t being serious, you dolt!” Karkat replied.

            “Who’s to say I wasn’t?” The man was unreadable with those stupid shades on, but he looked like he meant business.

            “I don’t think I can take anything you say seriously. Are you going to order something or-?”

            “Is that cat girl your girlfriend?” Dave interrupted him.

            “What?!”

            “She’s into you right? Are you dating?”

            “Karkat leaned in close so he could whisper, “It isn’t like that. She doesn’t like me like that.”

            “Dude, she hasn’t stopped stealing glances at you since I walked in. I’m guessing that eye-fuckage continues throughout the entire day and you’re just oblivious to the whole thing, yeah?”

            Karkat covered his face with a hand, “Please stop talking. Why do you even care?”

            “Because I’m very obviously after your peen?”

            “Oh my god. If I buy you a coffee will you leave?”

            “Nope. How about we hang out tonight? Also, you owe me for swiping my paper this morning.”

            _Shit_ , “How do you know it was me?”

            “I was actually on my way to get it and I totes heard you grumbling and rustling around out there. Was gonna jump out and go ‘Swiper no swipin’ because I need it to draw some ironic comics that relate to whatever bullshit catches my eye in there for my blog, but then I was like, nah man, that would give you a heart attack and I really didn’t want you passing out in front of my door again.”

            “I was planning on watching a movie tonight.”

            “Cool. What are we watching?”

            Karkat let out a long sigh, “I don’t know yet, but you aren’t allowed to make fun of whatever I pick. Now please order something before I get in trouble.”

            “Sweet. I’ll take a cup of pumpkin spice. Large. Do you guys write the names of customers on the cups like Starbucks?”

            “No.”

            “Okay. Cool. So make it out to the ‘hot blond’ and also maybe write your phone number on there.”

            When Nepeta was done preparing the drink Karkat handed the beverage over to Dave.

            “This does not look like ‘hot blond’ followed by seven very important digits.”

            “It says ‘insufferable prick’. I don’t know why you’re so upset. They’re the same person.”

            “That is the most backhanded compliment I’ve ever received.”

            “GET OUT.”

            “Alright. See you tonight,” And with that Dave strolled out the door.

            “Karkitty…,” Karkat’s attention was pulled to the small red head.

            “Yes?”

            “This may seem furward but… was that your boyfriend?”

            “HE ISN’T EVEN MY FRIEND FRIEND. HE IS MY STUPID NEIGHBOR WHO PLAYS GODAWFUL MUSIC AT FUCK O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING.”

            “Mr. Vantas! Language!” Equius was brutal.

            “Fuck. Sorry.”

            “You two just seemed really close.”

            “I met him, like, not even a week ago. He’s a jerk.”

            “Yeah, but he’s kind of attractive,” She worried her lip.

            “If you like him _you_ can date him.”

            Nepeta’s eyes widened, “Uh no! That wasn’t… I mean, the one I like is... This isn’t coming out right… He’s just not my type. I’m more into… angry baristas?”

            It was Karkat’s turn to be flustered, “Oh geez, Nep! I’m sorry! It’s just, well, I don’t really think of you that way.”

            “No. I understand. Besides you and he look really cute together.”

            Karkat felt his face heat up, “What is it with people accusing me of feelings that obviously don’t exist today?”

            “You can’t fool me! I saw you check him out when he walked in.”

            “Okay, Nep, you know what? In my eyes, you are like twelve, and hearing you say things like ‘checking him out’ or anything sexual just makes me want to put you in time out and wash your mouth out with soap.”

            Nepeta pretended to look slightly affronted, “Whatevpurr! Just keep me up to date on anything that happens in your relationship. This is gonna be interesting!”

            Karkat pinched the bridge of his nose, “I am dreading going home tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I feel extra awesome I may drop off another chapter tomorrow for Christmas. (There is no "if". I'm gonna do it.)


	4. Movie Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! :D I just got a new laptop and I'm so bad with technology! How do you even work windows 8.1? Like it won't let me open documents??? I had to download some free app called Abi word which is pretty shit by the way. But hey. I said I'd have a Christmas update and I honored my word so I hope someone is happy out there.

As soon as Karkat arrived home from work he set out to make the apartment clean. This wasn’t a date. This was a way to get Dave to leave him alone, in a really roundabout, almost going completely in the opposite direction, sort of way. He still made popcorn though, and prepared a bowl of chips because he was a good host and no one could tell him otherwise.

  
There was a knock at the door fifteen minutes after eight. Karkat went to answer it.

  
Dave stood there in his pajama clad glory. He had a plain white T-shirt and a pair of pants with little records on them, “Where are your jams man?”

  
“My what?”

  
“Your sleep wear?”

  
“Isn’t that a bit unnecessary?”

  
“Of course not. We are havin a sleep over.”

  
“When the fuck was that decided?”

  
“Just now. Now, go get changed.”

  
“I’m almost afraid to leave you in here by yourself.”

  
“What the fuck do you think I’m gonna do? Set your drapes on fire?”

  
“You’d probably do it now, just for ironic purposes.”

  
“Jimmy-Jams. Now.”

  
“Fine!” Pushy bastard.

  
Karkat went to his room and looked through his closet and drawers. He didn’t really wear bed clothes. Sweats usually worked just fine. He did get a set of pajamas for Christmas from one of his friends. That could work. He threw on the black shirt and grey shorts with little crabs printed across. When he observed himself in the mirror he was a little weirded out. He didn’t usually wear anything that exposed that much leg. They were kind of thin, much like the rest of him. His hair was dark and his skin was a nice tanned color, thanks to his Italian heritage. But he still had dark bags under auburn eyes and a scowl that chased people away more than drew them near. He was starting to feel self conscious. Maybe he should just change into something that covered a little more.

  
The bedroom door opened, “Hey. You havin a fashion show in here?” Dave looked Karkat up and down, “Damn. You really do have nice legs.”

  
A blush crept up into Karkat’s cheeks, “I’m getting changed again!”

  
“Oh, no. This is perfect. No need to agonize over what to wear for little ol’ me.”

  
Karkat moved past him and into the living room, “Whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

  
“What are we watching again?”

  
“The Time Traveler’s Wife.”

  
“Oh shit. That sounds like some Dr. Who type madness. What is it? Action? Sci-fi?”

  
“It’s a romance.”

  
“Holy hell. Trying to get in my pants on the first date? You scamp.”

  
“I didn’t pick it out with you in mind! I was planning on watching it before you invited yourself!”

  
“I know. Cause you’re all into the sappy romcoms and love stories, right? I guess I’ll struggle through it.”

  
“You don’t have to be here, you know.”

  
“Just play the damn movie.”

  
Karkat started the movie and settled himself on his sofa with a blanket. It wasn’t a particularly big couch so Dave was sitting close enough that their arms almost touched. Karkat would look over at Dave during his favorite scenes and see if Dave was paying attention. He could never tell with those stupid shades obstructing his face.

  
By the end Karkat was sobbing and clutching his blanket to his face to muffle the noises he was making, “Holy shit. Are you okay?”

  
“Shut,” He sniffled, “Up.”

  
Dave pulled him in for a hug and Karkat turned his face into his chest, “Take your time getting it out. I’m not going anywhere.”

  
“You’re such a dick,” Karkat mumbled into his shirt. He was starting to worry he might be soaking it with his tears.

  
“Yeah, I know,” Dave leaned over and kissed the top of his head.

  
Karkat stiffened. Shit. What was he doing? He wasn’t going to do this. Nope. He definitely did not like Dave. He sat up and looked Dave in the eyes. He could just make out the outlines of them behind the dark tint of the glasses.

  
“You’re sleeping on the couch,” Karkat squeaked out.

  
“I don’t think it’s big enough.”

  
“The floor.”

  
“It’s really cold and I didn’t bring a blanket.”

  
“You live right next door.”

  
“Yeah, but I’m lazy.”

  
Karkat groaned, “You can sleep in my bed if you keep your hands to yourself. You stay on one side and I’ll stay on mine.”

  
“Party pooper.”

  
Karkat got up and led Dave to the bedroom. They situated themselves one on either side and Dave actually did keep his hands to himself.

  
The next day was Saturday and that meant Karkat didn’t have work so he could sleep in. He lazily opened his eyes to the filtered light streaming through his curtains and snuggled back into the warm body that had enveloped him in his sleep. He panicked. With an unmanly shriek he pushed himself out of Dave’s arms and off of the side of his bed.  
He heard Dave grumble and stir but that was it. When he got up and looked around he saw with horror that he had been the one to move closer to Dave in the middle of the night. Dave still slumbered peacefully… Where were his glasses?

  
They were sitting on the nightstand by his side of the bed. Karkat was suddenly very curious. Without the glasses Dave seemed younger. He looked about Karkat’s age. His lashes were long and so pale, they could have been translucent. They were kind of pretty for a boy.

  
Karkat leaned down, crossed his arms on the bed, and rested his chin on them as he stared at the sleeping man. Those eyelashes really did cast some nice shadows over his cheeks.

  
The eyelashes fluttered, and Dave’s eyes opened. Karkat was so stunned by their color that he didn’t even worry about Dave catching him observing him while he slept until after Dave made a remark, “Like what you see?”

  
“Your eyes are red.”

  
“Yeah. So?”

  
“Is that why you wear glasses?”

  
“Nah. I just like wearin them. I’m not hiding my eyes or anything. Most people actually think they’re pretty cool. They also help me pick up chicks.”

  
Karkat through a pillow at him, “That was anticlimactic.”

  
“Well you like them, right?” Dave groaned out groggily.

  
Karkat flushed, “They’re certainly unique.”

  
“Yeah, see? These peepers get me all the ladies… and Karkats,” Dave added.

  
“Give me that pillow so I can bludgeon you with it again.”

  
“Can one actually bludgeon another person with a pillow?”

  
“Let’s find out.”

  
“I have a better idea. Crawl back into bed so we can have a snuggle fest.”

  
“It’s already noon.”

  
“I’m not hearing any opposition to the cuddling though.”

  
“I’m not cuddling with you! Don’t you have work?”

  
“Not until six. You get to have me to yourself for most of the day. Do with me what you will.”

  
“I’m going to kick you out.”

  
“Except that. Not sexy at all. I am just setting you up for some nice playful flirtations and you keep knocking them down one after the next.”

  
“Maybe because I don’t actually want to flirt with you?”

  
“Are you seeing anybody right now?”

  
The seriousness in Dave’s face and the abrupt change in topic made Karkat flinch, “No.”

  
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your sexuality?”

  
Karkat’s face fell and there was a long silence.

  
“I’ve never really thought about it,” Karkat deadpanned, “I don’t like putting a label on it because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching and reading romcoms, it’s that love can come from anywhere,” Karkat sounded like he was reading out of a textbook, his words were precise and practiced like he had answered it before in the same manner, word for word.

  
“That was so painfully cheesy and perfect, but also way too vague to be an actual answer to my question. Okay. Well, do you have a problem with me chasing your tail?”

  
Karkat really had no idea how to answer that.

  
After he was quiet for a while Dave spoke up again, “Are you a virgin?”

  
Karkat’s face reddened again.

  
“Seriously?”

  
“I’d really appreciate it if you left now.”

  
“Alright. Just as long as I know you’re single and ready to mingle. I can’t believe you’re still a virgin though. With legs like yours-.”

  
“Oh my gosh. leave! And stop talking about my legs!”

  
“Gotcha. Let’s do this again sometime,” And with that Dave picked up his shades, swept himself out of the apartment, and left Karkat’s head in a state of disarray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Myyyyyy Karkat is certainly dancing around certain topics.


	5. A Birthday, Alcohol, and A Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I'm thinking about speeding up my updating schedule because I've been doing okay pacing myself and I can tell I could be writing more than I have been. So, next update will be posted in a week? Also, I have to ensnare one of my friends who just started reading my fics. The more updates the more he'll read it and get attached. I want him addicted, broken, and wanting more. NO MERCY.

A bit of awkwardness lingered between Karkat and Dave after their sleepover. There was more silence between them, and it was mostly because Dave wasn’t making any remarks or sexual advances. Maybe he wasn’t as into Karkat as he’d originally thought? Why did this trouble him so much? He finally got his neighbor to leave him alone. He should be happy.

The day before Halloween Karkat was leaving his apartment to pick up some groceries when he heard a familiar cackle, “Terezi?”

Terezi stood next to Dave’s door, drubbing the poor thing with her cane, her other hand gripping a bottle of wine. She turned and smelled the air, almost looking directly at him. It was a bit unsettling how she always knew where he was without needing to see him, “Karkat? What are you doing here?”

Dave opened the door and received a drubbing to his head, “Ow. Hey, Terezi.”

Terezi gasped and gave Dave a huge hug, almost knocking him off of his feet, “Dave!”

“What the fuck? How do you two know each other?” Karkat’s heart clenched a little at the sight of his best friend from high school hanging onto his neighbor’s shoulders.

Terezi pointed her predatory grin Karkat’s way and snickered, “Dave and I met in college. He’s quite the lady’s man.”

“Oh,” Karkat looked away, not sure where he should focus his eyes. Dave kept an unreadable face as he observed Karkat.

“We’re celebrating my birthday. I tried calling you and you didn’t pick up. None of my friends picked up except Dave. Why do you people even have phones if you never pick up? Anyway, you don’t look particularly busy. Do you want to join us for drinks?”

Karkat looked at Dave but he remained silent and impassive, “Well, I was going out to buy some groceries.”

“But, Karkat, it’s my birthday. You have to listen to my requests. Sorry. I don’t make the rules,” She grabbed his elbow and ushered the two guys inside, “Now then, let’s play a game of kings.”

“Oh shit. Not kings,” Dave frowned.

“What? Not feeling too lucky right now Dave?”

“Ever since your friend- Vriscount was it? -targeted me and got me shit-faced drunk at one of those wild frats, I haven’t tried to play kings.”

“Vriska. Ah yes,” Terezi cooed fondly at the memory, “She has extremely good fortune and holds her alcohol very well. I’m afraid she had you in her line of sights for most of the night.”

Dave shivered, “Yeah well she was pretty pissed when I didn’t hook up with her afterward wasn’t she?”

“Yes. She was very annoyed to have you fall out of her carefully spun web and into my loving embrace.”

“Saved from the clutches of the spider queen,” Dave smiled at Karkat, noticing how out of place he must have felt, “How do you know Karkat again?”

“Karkat and I were best friends in high school. We grew a bit distant when we went to separate colleges but we catch up on the phone every once in a while,” Terezi prodded the back of Karkat’s leg teasingly.

“How about we just casually drink tonight, TZ?” Dave pleaded.

“Well, alright. But only because I would wipe the floor with you guys with my luck, and I’d rather not see one of you get alcohol poisoning tonight.”

After they settled down around Dave’s coffee table and poured themselves some drinks. Terezi began to speak again, “So, do you guys have plans for tomorrow?”

“Why?” Dave lifted an eyebrow above the rim of his shades suspiciously.

“Because there’s a little Halloween event happening and I think it would be fun if I had some friends to go with.”

“I have work,” Karkat hastily replied, “It’s the busiest season for coffee right now.”

“Karkat,” Terezi deadpanned, “You work at a no-name brand coffee shop. You can take a day off.”

“I’m free,” Dave added.

“Great! Then it’s settled. Look at us being social and making plans with mutual friends.”

“Yes. It is so very pleasant and enjoyable,” Karkat’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

They drank a lot, mostly because Terezi kept pulling the birthday card on them. It was even more humorous when she was the first one to pass out after all that talk. Dave had taken his shades off and had a light dusting of blush on his cheeks, the only indicator that he wasn’t exactly sober. Karkat was a lot worse. He had his head rested on the table and he was starting to slur his words a bit.

“Slider?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you mmm… like Terezi?”

Dave was quiet, and paused with his drink to his lips before answering, “I once thought we might take our relationship somewhere when we were in college, but we never did anything.”

Karkat straightened up, “But she said you fell inta her lovin embrace at the frat party.”

“She was being overdramatic. She just took me to her dorm room, where I puked my organs out into her trashcan and passed out on her floor. She was actually really shit about taking care of me, but at least she got me out of there.”

Karkat took a moment to process this, “Didja sleep with a lotta people when you were in college?”

“Yes.”

“Didja love any of those people?”

Dave took another moment to answer, “No.”

What if Dave was only after sex with him? He kept telling Karkat he was serious but serious about what? A relationship? Wanting to have sex?

Karkat was quiet for a while before he asked, “Why doncha talk to me anymore?”

“What do you mean? We’re talking right now.”

“You stopped bugging me.”

“Did you like it when I bugged you?”

“Answer my question first, you dolt.”

Dave sighed, relenting, “I took a step back because you looked like you needed time to think about what I said to you. I didn’t want to push you too hard. Even though you have all of these books and movies about romance you don’t really seem all that experienced yourself so I wanted to give you some space and time. Do you not want me to?”

“I-I don’t know…,” Karkat looked down at his hands. He was fiddling with a hole in his sweater, when a shadow moved across his face and Dave leaned over the coffee table.

He kissed him. It was soft and tasted like wine. Karkat closed his eyes on reflex. There wasn’t any tongue but it was gentle and nice. Karkat had kissed people before but it was never this lazy and relaxed.

When Dave leaned away, Karkat’s eyes reopened. Dave was pulling a smirk, “You know, you’re really cute.”

Terezi snored loudly. Karkat looked down at her sprawled on the floor, “We should probably get her inta a bed.”

Dave chuckled, “Yeah. I guess we should.”

The next morning, Karkat awoke on top of Dave. They were sleeping on the couch, he remembered, because Terezi hogged up the entire bed and her god-awful nasal choir wouldn’t quiet down. The rise and fall of Dave’s breathing was lulling Karkat back to sleep when he recalled how he should probably be calling out of work right now.

After he got that out of the way Dave woke up and yawned, “Morning, sunshine.”

“Good morning…,” Karkat was feeling a little timid around Dave since last night’s drinking had gotten a little too… intimate? “I think I have a headache.”

“A hangover, huh? Man, have I got the cure for that. Scrambled eggs sound good to you?”

“Actually gentlemen,” Terezi’s voice echoed as she made her grand entrance into the living room, “There will be no time for breakfast.”

“Why?” Karkat’s stomach really wanted those scrambled eggs.

“We need costumes for tonight so a shopping we must go!”

“Hey, no problems there. I’ve got a costume prepared already since I have to wear it for my gig this weekend. Halloween weekend extravaganza at the club.”

“Then Karkat and I will go last minute costume shopping alone,” She turned her predatory gaze on Karkat.

“Nice knowin you, man.”

“Dave, you prick.”

Terezi sniggered as she pushed Karkat out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I don't comment back much but I really do like comments so thanks people :3


	6. The Blind Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little change in perception. I hope you guys like it. Also, I really hope I'm doing Terezi's character justice (pun intended). I don't usually write her in my fics so doing a piece where it shifts to her point of view was interesting.

            “How about this one?”

            Karkat came out of the changing room wearing a giant pumpkin costume. It came with a little green stem hat that tied around his chin.

            Terezi was sitting in a chair, her head resting on her hand looking positively bored. It hadn’t taken her long to pick out her costume. She was going to make an excellent queen Cleopatra, gold snakes coiling up her arms and a billowy white dress that fit her form nicely.

            “You look gourd-geous,” She pouted, “Can’t you get something a little, I don’t know, sexier?”

            “Why the hell would I do that?” Karkat disappeared behind the curtain to remove the bulbous atrocity.

            “Because Dave might like it.”

            “Why would I care about what he thinks!?” Karkat reopened the curtain to yell at the provoking girl.

            “Oh my god. You two are dancing around each other, trying not to step on each other’s toes or fall ass forward into a relationship. It’s so painful to watch,” They stared silently at each other, “Painful to smell?” She corrected herself.

            “We are not dancing around anything!”

            “Karkat… You busted out of the changing room in your boxers and an undershirt to yell at me. You’re being really defensive about this. I mean, I noticed you guys on the couch last night when I went to take a midnight piss. I almost took a picture before I remembered that I wouldn’t be able to see it.”

            Karkat jumped back into the changing room, “Sometimes I don’t believe you’re actually blind, like how did you know I was in my boxers?”

            “That was actually a guess, since I know you really well. Just like I know you have something going on with Dave.”

            “I-I don’t know what to do. Do you think he’s only interested in sex?”

            Terezi’s mouth curved down, confused, “Hard to say. I know he likes sex but I’ve never actually seen, er, oh fuck it, him in a relationship before.”

            Karkat blew a laugh out through his nose.

            “It’s hard to be politically correct about my disability sometimes.”

            “Yeah, I understand. I won’t call you out on it,” Karkat came out of the dressing room again, “This one?”

            Terezi smelled the air, “A cat?” He had black ears and a fluffy tail coupled with the clothes he had worn to the store, “Where’s the rest of the outfit?”

            “Damn you’re good. Can’t I just wear these?”

            “I mean, yeah. It’s a step up from a sour pumpkin. It’s kind of fitting too.”

            Karkat let out a sigh of relief, “Awesome. We’re done.”

            A store worker came up to the pair and addressed Terezi, “Ma’am, you can’t be back here. This is the men’s dressing room.”

            Terezi’s face went stoic, “I’m blind. What does it matter?”

            The worker blushed and excused himself.

            “That was so mean. You shouldn’t tease people like that.”

            “Hey. There have to be some advantages to being blind. If I can’t mess with tight asses for my own enjoyment, what good is having a disability? I don’t really see the harm… Literally,” She cackled.

            “You’re fucking nuts… And beautiful.”

            When they got back to the apartment building Karkat let Terezi out of the car and then got back in the driver’s seat, “I still have groceries to pick up so you can hang out with Dave until I get back.”

            “Oh really? I can? I get that privilege?”

            “I mean, you can also go dumpster diving in my building’s collective trash receptacle unit but I was under the impression you were trying to convince me that Dave was more enjoyable to be around than day old leftovers and plastic Hefty bags.”

            “Just go get your groceries before I toss you in a Hefty bag and throw _you_ in the dumpster.”

            Karkat sped out of the lot laughing as Terezi made her way to the building. She paid attention to the closing of a car door and then the audible clicking of heels of a woman in the lot as she headed in the direction of what Terezi presumed to be the apartment building. Terezi followed the noise. She had to be a bit more crafty and resourceful without eyesight. She made her way up the floors until there were no more stairs and tapped her cane on the hallway wall until she counted out the correct number of doors. She drubbed at the third.

            “Hey, Rezi. Come on in,” She heard Dave drawl out and move aside to let her in.

            “Hello, Dave. We have some things to discuss.”

            “Uh-oh,” Dave settled them down at his kitchen table with some tea, “Alright, so am I in trouble?”

            “No, but we need to talk about Karkat. How serious are you about pursuing him?”

            “I think he’s cute and I want him naked in my bed… possibly forever.”

            “That’s still too vague. What kind of relationship do you want with him?”

            “I want to cuddle his butt and also maybe perform sexual acts with it?”

            Terezi sighed, “Like as his boyfriend?”

            “Yes. That.”

            “How determined are you?”

            “Why? Is my life about to become Scott Pilgrim vs. The World?”

            “No. No evil exes. However, his father is quite an obstacle.”

            “He doesn’t approve of two guys doin it in the butt?”

            Terezi snorted, “That’s not even half of it,” Terezi’s face grew dark like she was contemplating something heavy. Dave went quiet, sensing the more somber air so that she could continue speaking, “I’m about to delve into a pretty dark story. Are you okay with listening?”

“If it’s about Karkat, sure.”

Terezi gave him a trusting smile, “Good,” She cleared her throat and began to speak, “Karkat once suffered from domestic abuse.”

“He… what?”

“Please hold off all questions until the end. I’ve never talked to anyone about this and it’ll be easier if I can get it all out in one go.”

Dave nodded.

Terezi cleared her throat, “In middle school and partway through high school, Karkat would always come to school with bruises and cuts. We all suspected there was something going on at the Vantas household, that his dad was beating him, but he didn’t want anyone involved and if you ever brought it up he’d change the subject immediately. In our freshman year of high school, Karkat changed a bit. He was usually grouchy but he became more distant, less open. He also stopped coming in with injuries. We assumed everything was better, in respect to the lack of markings, but then his father’s trial came to light."

There was a dangerous glint in her eyes, “Karkat’s father was put on trial for killing his mother. He was let off without jail time, but the case revealed what was actually happening at Karkat’s. We found out that it wasn’t Slick, Karkat’s dad, who had been beating him, but his mother. Slick had come home one day from work and had seen her holding a knife…,” Terezi swallowed, “He’s in a dangerous line of work so he usually carried a gun. He shot her,” Terezi inhaled deeply, trying to keep her emotions under control. Dave could see her trying to steady her shaking hands on the table, “Slick was normally estranged when it came to his relationship with Karkat, but it got worse. Slick began to drink and Karkat hid himself in his room. Right before everyone was picking out colleges Karkat wanted to finally come out as gay to his father-.”

            “He said he didn’t put a label on his sexuality,” Dave interrupted.

            Terezi smiled sadly, “That’s what he told Slick after he didn’t take very kindly to Karkat’s confession, like there might still be a chance he’d end up with a girl. Like he might still be able to maintain some type of “normalcy”, whatever the fuck that is,” Terezi’s voice was venom before settling back to solemn, “If Karkat ever wants to repair his relationship with his father, and believe me, as much as he says it doesn’t bother him, it really does, he needs to bring home a girl. It’s either that, or he has to stop giving a fuck about what his father thinks and move on. He’s kind of stuck right now. Even if he’s gotten better by putting space between him and his old man, I’ve seen it affect him. I really don’t want him to be stuck in his room all by himself again,” Terezi’s voice cracked a bit and she sipped at her tea. It wasn’t warm anymore, but the gesture hid her uneasiness behind a parched throat well enough, “That’s why you can’t fuck around with him. If you do, I’ll shoot off your dick and have it stuffed and mounted on my office wall so everybody knows how damn good I am at protecting people.”

            “Lawyer Terezi to the rescue,” Dave smiled, “I understand. I’m not fucking around so you can relax. I genuinely like the guy.”

            Terezi grinned, “I know. You’re a good guy Dave. Oh and you can’t tell Karkat I told you. I trusted you enough to tell you because as a friend I believe you can help me protect him.”

            “He doesn’t need protecting or pitying, Rezi,” Dave stood up, “He needs our support.”

            “You cheesy motherfucker. Go put on your goddamn angel costume.”

            “Hey. I’m gonna be a _fallen_ angel. Big difference.”

            “Whatever. I smelled feathers. I was almost right.”

            “I still have two more questions that were unanswered.”

            “And they are?”

            “Why did his mom snap and what kind of dangerous work does Karkat’s dad do?”

            Terezi folded her hands, “No one really knew why she snapped. She seemed perfectly fine and sane in public. Karkat wouldn’t tell anyone. I don’t even know if _he_ knows. People theorized that it was Slicks job that put too much pressure on her. He runs a gang.”

            “Oh. Well, yeah. That sounds plenty dangerous. Don’t think it would be enough to drive a person mad though.”

            “It just goes to show how well you actually know people, Dave.”

            “Oh yeah? Well, how well do I know you, Terezi?”

            Terezi snickered, “But that’s the thing, Dave. You may be acquainted with every aspect of a person: their behaviors, their ideals. But every day, little by little, a piece of them changes. And if you aren’t around for those changes you begin to lose that sense of knowing them. For instance, I was being polite but I really hate this tea.”

            “What? Oh hell no. You love Spring Dragon  tea.”

            “I did… until I got sick of it. I drank way too much of it in college. It completely ruined it for me.”

            “These are some deep and sad truths you’re droppin on me.”

            “I’ll let you drop your “ill beats” on me later as compensation.”

            “Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. So yeah, I kind of hinted at Karkat acting a little strange when his sexuality was mentioned in the sleepover chapter and I was a bit worried about the pacing of this chapter considering I did drop a lot of "sad truths". Although to be fair, there was some sweet literary shit I threw in that you can analyze if you want. I mean you have Dave being slightly more right than Terezi on how to handle Karkat's situation and also, hey, look, Terezi was also slightly wrong about what Dave's costume was. PARALLELS. MAN, I AM TELLING YOU. Yeah, I guess that was a bit nerdy to point out but I really like that kind of stuff. Oh and hmmm I wonder what made Karkat's mom snap?


	7. A Maize Maze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Okay. So less serious chapter. I'm much better with humor I think. Still I'm practicing a bunch of things with this work. Mostly plot since I usually write oneshots and I am a firm believer that stepping out of my comfort zone will make me better.

            Karkat arrived in front of Dave’s door promptly at nine. He had chosen a black turtleneck and some black skinny jeans to pull off his black cat ensemble. He was fidgeting with the collar of the turtleneck when Dave opened the door.

            “Hey,” He smiled and gave him the once over, “A black cat, huh? That’s pretty kinky. Didn’t take you for the type. I see you’re playing up your legs in those skinnies. Finally decided to draw attention to those great assets thanks to a certain someone’s compliments?”

            “Dave!” Terezi’s cane came down on Dave’s head and he was pushed out the door, “Don’t be an ass right off the bat! You’ll drive him away before we even get to the event!”

            Terezi’s shove had pushed Dave fully into view revealing a set of oily black wings trailing down his back from the straps on his shoulders. They were long enough that they ran down to the back of his knees. He wore a black tee to better blend in with the color of the straps and a pair of jeans.

            “You also forgot your horns,” The beads on her Cleopatra wig clinked together as she clipped them into place unevenly in his hair.

            “I got it,” Dave adjusted them.

            “So not an angel then?” Karkat was a bit flustered. The wings really suited Dave for some weird reason.

            “A _fallen_ angel. I didn’t pick it out. My club did,” Dave leaned closer so he could whisper into Karkat’s ear, “But hey, you can call me angel if you want anyway. I don’t mind.”

            Karkat moved away and covered his ear with his hand, “Stop spouting out nonsense and requesting I call you ridiculous pet names!”

            “Hmm,” Dave pretended to think it over, “Nah,” He smiled and Karkat felt his heart drop into his stomach and his face go red.

            What the _fuck_ did his body think it was doing? He only smiled. It wasn’t anything to get anxious about.

            Terezi licked his face, “Karkat? You feel hot. Are you getting sick?”

            “N-no! Can you not lick me?”

            Karkat looked at Dave again but he wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked shocked and there was a bit of blush peeking out from behind his shades, dusting his cheeks, “Hey, TZ. Can I take Karkat inside for a sec? I need to give him some whiskers for his cat costume.”

            “But-,” Dave grabbed Karkat’s arm and pulled him into his apartment, shutting the door quickly.

A moment later Karkat found himself back up against the door, with Dave hovering over him, “W-What?” Karkat questioned as Dave gave him a stern stare.

            “You aren’t allowed to be this cute. It isn’t fair.”

            “What.”                                                            

            Dave rested his head on the door above Karkat’s shoulder, “You can’t just fuckin blush like an anime school girl. I didn’t even do anything yet,” Dave let out an exasperated sigh and in the most serious voice he could muster he asked, “Are you trying to seduce me?”

            “Again, what.”

            Dave lifted his head up and pulled his glasses off, tucking them onto his shirt collar before looking at Karkat again, “If you continue being adorable where I can see you, I will have to take extreme measures,” He leaned down and put his forehead to Karkat’s. His breath was hot on his mouth, “Can I kiss you?”

            He almost said yes. He panicked. Almost saying yes made him panic. He brought his hands up and was about to push Dave away, but he didn’t.

            Dave didn’t look away. He gave a tentative smile that looked a bit sad and pulled back after leaving a peck on Karkat’s temple, “Alright. I think I can make it through the night with that.”

            “Dave, I-.”

            “Vantas. I swear to god though. You aren’t allowed to let people see how cute you are. You are _so_ lucky Terezi is blind.”

            Dave opened the door and Terezi fell forward and landed body flat against the floor, “Hey, gents. What’s up?” She said, causally striking a pose.

            “ _You_ are so lucky you’re blind too. Got it Pyrope?”

            Terezi cackled, “Got it. Now somebody help me up so we can go!”

            “What kind of event is this again?”

            “It’s a surprise!”

            The surprise turned out to be a mosquito populated cornfield maze that the locals were using as a type of haunted house minus the house.

            “Are people going to pop out at us?” Karkat was sending angry thought waves Terezi’s way. He had bad nerves so this haunted maize maze was going to be hard on him.

            “And props. But don’t worry. They let people walk through it in groups.”

            “Great.”

            Dave nudged his elbow, “You scared?”

            “THAT IS THE MOST LUDICROUS FUCKING THING TO HAVE LEFT YOUR MOUTH TONIGHT AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING CONSIDERING YOU HAVE BEEN SPEWING BULLSHIT NONSTOP SINCE I MET UP WITH YOU FOOLS.”

            “Relax,” Dave slipped his hand into Karkat’s, “We can hold hands.”

            Karkat spluttered and threw Dave’s hand away, “Please kindly go fuck yourself. I have no intention of holding your hand and I’M NOT SCARED.”

            “Suit yourself. Just remember, you can always jump into my arms if you get the urge.”

            “Hey! If you two are done with releasing all that sexual tension, we’re up next,” Terezi huffed, “Honestly, children.”

            “Sorry, mom,” Dave snickered.

            Terezi scrunched up her nose and made a disgusted face as they entered the maze, “That makes my previous statement about sexual tension seem a bit incestuous.”

            The maze was relatively quiet. Terezi and Dave threw some quips back and forth and Karkat mostly screamed internally and grabbed onto Terezi’s dress whenever a person popped out. Dave would comment on the person’s costume and Terezi would try to lick them. One guy playing a mummy actually got a nice drubbing to the shin when Terezi tried to turn a corner. His moan of pain was so loud that they heard a nearby couple scream, “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?”

            Suddenly the singular path they had been on came to an end and they found themselves in an open area. There were three paths to continue onward.

            “Well, it looks like we have to split up, gang,” Terezi smirked.

            “Jinkies,” Dave deadpanned.

            “Can’t we just go through them all until we find the right one?”

            “Karkat, would you do it for a Scooby snack?” Dave smirked.

            “I AM A CAT, NOT A FUCKING DOG.”

            “Dave will follow the right path, I will take the left, and Karkat will take the middle. Two of them are obvious dead ends and this will be the fastest way to locate the correct path,” Terezi strategized.

            “Why do you get to decide who goes where?” Karkat questioned.

            “Because I’m a lawyer and my word is law!” Terezi shouted out the words like a battle cry before rushing off onto the left path.

            “YOU ARE A PAIN IN MY ASS AND YOUR WORDS MEAN SHIT TO ME!” Karkat called after her. He heard wild cackling in response.

            “Well, I better get goin,” Dave moved to the right path before disappearing from view.

            “Fuck,” Karkat was alone in the middle of a corn field. A cold wind swept past him and made his skin crawl. Was it just his imagination or did it seem to pull him in the direction of the middle path? “Double fuck.”

            He started on the path muttering as he went. Maybe his path was the correct one… That would mean there wouldn’t be anything popping out, right? It was the last part of the maze after all, right?

Without Dave or Terezi the cornfield seemed far too silent and unsettling. Karkat hugged himself. It was getting a bit chilly by himself. He shivered as he turned a corner. _This is the middle path. There shouldn’t be a corner._

A honk sounded and a clown head sprang out from the dead end of the cornfield. Karkat screamed and fell backwards. The head retracted but Karkat could still feel his heart racing. There was rustling in the maze heading towards him but Karkat’s legs were shaking and he didn’t think he could stand up yet, “Shit.”

            “Karkat?” Dave appeared from the field and looked down at him. He had some grassy stuff stuck in his wings and hair and he was breathing heavily, “You okay?”

            “I’m fine,” Karkat was a bit stunned, “Did you run here?”

            “Dude, you don’t look fine.”

            “Y-Yeah, well, neither do you! Are you bleeding?!”

            Dave looked at his arms. There were a few cuts here and there, “Shit. Yeah. Corn leaves are fuckin sharp. Who knew?”

            “Why would you-Are you an idiot?”

            “’Hey, Dave. Thanks for coming to my rescue, Dave.’,” He squatted down next to Karkat.

            “I don’t need to be rescued!”

            “Yeah. Yeah. But you need a hand, am I right?” Dave pointed to Karkat’s legs. They still felt a bit shaky.

            “You’re an ass,” Karkat took Dave’s outstretched hand.

            Dave pulled him up and steadied him gently, “I’m a motherfuckin knight.”

            When Karkat felt okay on his feet again, he didn’t bother telling Dave to let go of his hand as they walked back to the open space where the maze branched off, “So, was your path the right one?”

            “Technically yes, but also no.”

            “DON’T BE A SMART ASS.”

            “It was the wrong path, but I did manage to knock out the guy who jumped out at me when my path came to a dead end.”

“YOU WHAT?!”

            “It was a reflex. I’m always battle ready. That’s why we were letting Terezi lead us around. She doesn’t punch people or get overly freaked out.”

            “Oh my god. Should we call for someone or?”  
            “Nah. Let’s just finish the maze and then get the guy assistance. He’ll be fine.”

            “Terezi is going to be so pissed when we get banned from this place.”

            “I’ve been banned from worse.”

            “Like?”

            “Brothels.”

            “Are you kidding?”

            “Absolutely not,” Dave lifted his shades up and winked at Karkat, “Terezi told you I was quite the ladies’ man in college.”

            “BUT BROTHELS ARE ILLEGAL.”

            “So is butterfly molestation in California. What’s your point?”

            “Why do you know that?”

            “I was really wild in college.”

            Karkat groaned, “I don’t know where the bullshit ends and the truth begins with you.”

            Dave stopped and turned around to kiss Karkat swiftly on the lips, “The bullshit ends there.”

            Dave continued walking until they were out of the maze. Terezi greeted them, “There you guys are! Karkat!” Terezi put her hands on his face and licked a huge stripe along his cheek, “Why are you so red again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always comments, critique, and kudos are always welcome. : )


	8. Sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is alternately titled Sick And Wanting The Dick. Also I just realized that molestation of butterflies being illegal in California is not common knowledge for most people and I might have been the only one to go through a phase where I only looked up strange and stupid state laws in my spare time. For this I apologize. Someone from another site was confused so I thought I'd mention that.

            Karkat was sick. Terezi was right when she mentioned he might have been coming down with something. He had to call out of work again for a few days and although Equius was a bit disgruntled he said Nepeta and he both wished him better health.

            He slept through most of the morning but had to get up around noon because someone was knocking on his door. He groaned and pulled his blanket around himself as he crawled out of bed and reluctantly answered.

            It was Dave, “Hey, man. You don’t look so good.”

            “What do you want, Strider?”

            “I was going to invite you to the Halloween bash at my club this weekend but you don’t really look up for it.”

            “No shit,” Karkat sniffled.

            “Alright, then, that settles it,” Dave pushed himself inside Karkat’s apartment.

            “What settles what?”

            “Vantas, have you eaten anything all day?”

            “I just got out of bed.”

            “Ick. That’s not good. I’ll make you soup. Go take a hot bath.”

            “YOU CAN’T JUST-!” Karkat broke into a fit of coughs.

            “I’ll call someone to have them drop off some throat lozenges and medicine. And if you don’t want to take a bath, I could always help,” Dave wiggled his eyebrows.

            “I got it! I’ll take a bath.”

            “Good.”

            Karkat slumped off into the bathroom and started to run the faucet. _How dare he bust his way in and boss a sick person around!_ Although, Karkat had to admit, having someone that could look after him felt pretty nice. He slipped into the tub.

            When the tub water was high enough Karkat relaxed and submerged his head under the water. It felt a lot better than trying to sweat out the sick, wrapped up in his bed. He slid back up, resurfaced and found that he could almost breathe normally again.

            The door to the bathroom opened and Karkat splashed around trying to cover himself as Dave entered, “What are you doing in here?!”

            “I came to get the blanket you’ve been carting around. I’m cleaning your sheets. Do you have any extras I can change your bed with?”

            “…They’re in that little closet in the hallway.”

            “Gotcha,” Dave didn’t make any more comments or remarks. He just took the blanket and left. It was a bit out of character and Karkat briefly wondered if Dave was the one not feeling well.

            However, the situation seemed comfortable. It was like a taste of what it would be like if two people actually lived together. The whole domestic cohabitants-thing was kind of nice. And being doted on a bit was also pretty fun.

            After the steam of the bath settled and the water was only lukewarm, Karkat got out of the tub. He forgot to bring a towel and Dave had taken his clothes along with the blanket. _Shit._

            He peeked out from behind the bathroom door and the smell of soup made his stomach gurgle, “Dave!”

            “Yeah?” He was in the kitchen.

            “Could you… Could you get me a towel from the hallway closet?”

            “Why, Karkat. Is that an invitation to-?”

            “DAVE, JUST GET ME A TOWEL.”

            A few seconds later, Dave slipped the towel into the slightly ajar door, “Soups cooling. Go get dressed into something warm and comfy.”

            “Okay…”

            With the towel wrapped around his waist, Karkat made his way to his room. The sheets were changed and a set of sweats was laid out on the bed.

            “Hey, Karkat! I know you’re the type to carry around a blanket when you’re sick but, I swear to god, if you bring one out you’ll get it dirty, and I just changed your sheets so-.”

            Karkat put the sheet he was pulling off the bed back into place, “I wasn’t going to!”

            Dave laughed and it sounded genuine and nice- _This was too good._

            Karkat crept slowly into the kitchen and eyed Dave suspiciously, “Who are you?”

            “Jesus, man. I know you’re sick but do you actually not remember who I am?” Dave set a bowl on the table and beckoned Karkat over by pulling out a chair. Karkat complied. The soup really smelled good. Dave sat across from him with his own bowl and began to eat. He stopped when he saw Karkat was looking at him instead of partaking in the soup, “Is there a problem?”

            “Is there?” Karkat narrowed his eyes.

            “Whoa. Okay. What did I do?”

            “You came into my home, cleaned my sheets, made me bathe, and made me soup.”

            “Okay. And I repeat ‘Is there a problem?’” Dave smirked.

            “I’m so confused…,” Karkat began spooning some of the soup into his mouth. It was just as delicious as it smelled. Oh hey. He could taste again.

            “Why? Didn’t think I would be the caregiver type?”

            “Yeah, I guess that’s it. I kind of thought your only agenda was to get into my pants.”

            “I thought I told you I was serious.”

            “BUT YOU NEVER SPECIFIED ABOUT WHAT!” Karkat’s spoon clanked into his bowl as he pushed his chair back and stood up

            “Hey. Calm down. It’s nothing to be upset about. Just some miscommunication -.”

            “I AM COMPLETELY CALM!”

            “Dude, you are not,” Dave hastily got up out of his seat and walked over to where Karkat was standing. Dave’s hand came up and palmed Karkat’s forehead, “Fuck. Your fever came back with a vengeance. If you’re done with your soup, you need to get back into bed. I’ll get you a wet cloth to put on your forehead to cool you down.”

            “NO.”

            “No?”

            “NO!”

            “Okay, well, no to your no,” Dave scooped Karkat up bridle-style.

            “What do you think you are doing?” Karkat struggled to no avail.

            “Getting you into bed. Terezi should be here soon with medicine. Until then, please try to calm down and get some rest,” Dave dumped Karkat into his bed and threw the blanket over him.

            Karkat panted heavily, frustrated and a little worn out. He dug the palm of his hands into his eyes, “My head is all messed up.”

            “Yeah, I know. But some sleep will fix you right up.”

            Karkat grabbed Dave’s shirt as he was about to walk away, “Not about that.”

            Dave turned around and slowly ran his fingers through Karkat’s hair. He began to lean down when he paused, hearing a knock at the door, “That’s Terezi with the meds.”

            Karkat let go of his shirt and turned away from him. He stared disgruntled at the wall, “Go answer it.”

            Dave sighed and bent down to kiss the back of his neck, “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.”

            “Stop quoting _Babe_ at me and answer the fucking door!”

            “You got it, babe,” Karkat groaned.

            The heat of Dave’s lips still lingered on his neck and he ran his hand over it feeling like it burned. _What am I doing?_ He couldn’t hear the words but the sounds of the voices were audible; Terezi’s, a bit scratchy and Dave’s, smooth and relaxed. There was the sound of the door closing and footsteps that didn’t stop at the bedroom. The bathroom maybe?

            Finally, Dave walked in and slapped a cold damp towel over Karkat’s forehead. He put down a plastic bag on the nightstand. He rustled through it and took out a bottle of Tylenol, some type of nasal spray, and cough drops.

            “Two Tylenol for your headache. Take it. Right now.”

            Karkat did as he was told.

            “The nasal spray is going to drip down into your throat and taste awful but we have cough drops so use them and make sure you don’t fall asleep with one in your mouth.”

            “…Alright.”

            “Cool. You all settled down then?”

            “Yes. Are you going to leave now?”

            “Well, yeah. I mean you should be good, right?”

            “Can you stay a bit longer?”

            Dave took off his shades and set them on the nightstand, “Yeah. Sure. I won’t leave until you fall asleep.”

            “Promise?”

            “I promise.”

            Dave sat down with his back rested against the bed. With his head so close, Karkat could smell his shampoo. It smelled like… apples? It was nice and so very Dave; it suited him. The smell comforted him, to know there was another person watching over him and being near him. He didn’t even notice when he began to drift asleep.

            The next morning Karkat woke up alone and feeling fantastic. It was already two in the afternoon but Dave was right. A nice long rest really did make him feel much better. He also felt like a bit of an ass. He needed to thank Dave somehow.

            Karkat walked out of his apartment and knocked on Dave’s door. A, “Coming!” was called out before the sound of stumbling and then the door was yanked open. Dave had bedhead. Dave had bedhead and it was BAD. Karkat actually started laughing.

            “Yeah? Yuck it up, Vantas. You think I got bad bedhead?” Dave bent down and Karkat could see himself in the reflections of Dave’s shades. Good lord.

            “Whatever. I didn’t come over here for hairstyling tips.”

            “Why are you here then if not to catch a gander at my unmanageable locks?”

            “I wanted to thank you for yesterday and also… I’ll go to your gig tonight.”

            Dave looked thrown off, “Really?”

            “Yes. Please don’t make me regret it.”

            “I promise you won’t,” Dave gave one of those smiles that made Karkat’s organs do weird things. _No! No! Shit! Shit!_

            “Yes. Well. I’ll see you tonight then,” He told himself it wasn’t a date. It was a way to thank Dave. He desperately hoped he wasn’t going to make a mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god. Shout out to all those people waiting for it to get all hot and bothered up in here. It's gonna happen so have no fear, the first smut chapter is almost here.


	9. It's Not A Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :> I know nothing about fashion. Please don't hurt me. I hope I portrayed Kanaya alright.

            “I need help!” Karkat had decided to call his only fashion conscious friend and cousin, Kanaya, to aid him in picking out club appropriate attire, “I know I didn’t give you a lot of heads up but I really need your help. I have no idea what people wear to clubs. Kakis?”

            “Oh, good God, no,” Kanaya sounded like she was making some overly dramatic gesture over the phone, like holding her hand to her heart, “But you really want my help? I honestly thought this day would never come. I’m kind of proud.”

            “Well, I kind of felt like I owed someone something and this something might require looking nicer than usual and-“

            “Is it a date?”

            “IT IS NOT A DATE.”

            “Oh my gosh. I’m so excited. You’re letting me help choose your outfit for your first real date! I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

            “Aren’t you at work? You could just give me over the phone advice.”

            “Nonsense. I want to be around for this,” Then she hung up.

            Kanaya arrived an hour later with an extravagant amount of shopping bags. She wore a cream skirt and blazer and had a small red scarf tied around her neck, adding a bit of color to the ensemble. It was a color scheme that really complemented her darker skin tone. Her hair was short, dark brown, and curved into her face. Tall and beautiful, she could have easily been a model, but she preferred designing outfits more than flaunting them.

            “Jesus, Kanaya. Did you bring the entire mall with you?”

            “Karkat, we both know you have nothing in your closet that will suffice for the activities you have planned tonight. Now, may I come in and put all this down? By the way, who is the lucky lady who you will be gracing your presence with this afternoon?”

            Karkat made room on his couch for all the bags and Kanaya, “It’s a guy,” He felt a bit safer talking about Dave with Kanaya. He also didn’t plan on much happening tonight. He was going to stick very strictly to the premise that he was going out with Dave as a thank you and nothing more.

            Kanaya’s eyes widened, “Did you-? I mean, Are you-?”

            “It isn’t like that,” Karkat blushed.

            Kanaya’s voice softened, “You know, your father isn’t here. It’s just the two of us.”

            Karkat flinched and lowered his volume, “His name’s Dave.”

            “Is he attractive?” Kanaya’s voice was teasing.

            “Very. Are you fucking happy now?” He folded his arms in front of his chest and looked away, pouting, “Sorry for cursing, but really.”

            “It’s fine. I was prodding a bit. I’m just interested in the guy that made you ask me for fashion advice.”

            “He’s also kind of an asshole.”

            “Well aren’t we all,” Kanaya began to pull clothes out and lay them on the couch.

            “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?”

            “This?” Kanaya held up the offending article, “I thought it would be a nice-.”

            “IT’S A CROP TOP! I’M NOT GOING TO A GAY BAR, KANAYA!”

            “Alright! You don’t have to yell! I just thought it would show off your abdominals. You still work out right?”

            “Yes, but-!”

            “Also, this is Halloween weekend at a club. There’s going to be many people dressing in this manner.”

            “Maybe girls.”

            “No. Men too.”

            Karkat groaned and ran his fingers through his hair, “You’re kidding me.”

            “Please trust me. I’ll make you look great.”

            “You are _so_ lucky I already know you’re good at what you do. Otherwise, I wouldn’t let you near me with that shit.”

            Kanaya smiled deviously, “Thank you.”

            After struggling and bickering Kanaya managed to squeeze Karkat into a tight black crop top and a pair of black skinny jeans, “I look fucking stupid.”

            “Shush and put on your boots while I muss your hair up.”

            “My hair is mussed up.”

            “No. It’s messed up. It needs to be mussed up. There’s a difference.”

            Karkat pulled on and laced up the boots Kanaya had brought. They had a militarian look to them and they felt comfortable enough. Okay. Karkat was willing to admit it. He did really like the boots. They made him feel like he could crush the heads of his enemies beneath them in style. Kanaya placed his cat ears on his head and handed Karkat a choker to tie around his neck, “Sexy cat boy, take two. You are almost ready for action.”

            “You’ve been working with costume departments for movies again, haven’t you?”

            “As long as it pays. Look up at me. I’m going to add glitter around your eyes.”

            “What?!”

            “No. Trust me. This is going to be great. I’m going to make you shine.”

            Kanaya had a crazed look in her eyes, “Only a little!” Karkat strapped his tail on.

            Kanaya muttered something that sounded like, “Only as much as I say is perfect.”

            Kanaya pulled a leather coat around his shoulders after she was done adding the glitter, “So you aren’t cold.”

            “Thanks, mom,” Karkat snarked and then tried to backtrack, “Uh. I meant-.”

            “It’s fine,” Kanaya smiled warmly and pinched Karkat’s cheek before gathering her things and moving towards the door, “I hope you have fun on your date.”

            “IT’S NOT A-,” She closed the door before he could finish, “date…”

            Dave had to set up his DJ equipment before the club opened so Karkat had to arrive at the club by himself. When he did he was surprised at how dead on Kanaya’s advice had been. Everyone was wearing clothes that revealed an excess amount of skin. The dance floor was a mass of closely knit people grinding and dancing. And there was Dave at the very back of the room, headphones on and bobbing to the music.

            He was wearing his angel wings and horns again, but he was shirtless. Goddamn. He definitely worked out. Those muscles were not fair. Karkat sat down at the bar and ordered a shot. The bartender gave him the once over and passed him his drink.

            It was interesting how engrossed Dave was in his work. The music was fantastic, perfectly flowing from one song to the next. It was obvious that Dave was great at what he did and that he loved his work.

            After downing his shot, Karkat made his way over to the DJ booth. Dave looked up and grinned, “Hey. You came,” He tilted his head, “Are you wearing glitter?”

            “I-. I mean, my friend put it on me.”

            “Cute,” Dave fiddled with his gear and then gave Karkat his full attention, “I just put on a prerecorded set so we can hang out. Do you want to put your jacket behind the booth?”

            “Um. Yeah. Sure,” Karkat nervously removed his coat and handed it to Dave.

            Dave let the jacket slip out of his fingers, “Oh shit. Sorry,” He bent down hastily to pick it up, throwing glances at Karkat, “Y-You look great.”

            Karkat was stunned by how flustered Dave was. He was red up to his ears and he had put a hand over his mouth to hide the break in his cool. Oh god. Karkat was so going to mess with him. Just a little wouldn’t really hurt, “Dave?” Karkat stepped closer and peeked up at Dave’s face, “Are you okay?”

            “Fine,” Dave brought his hands up, unsure what to do with them.

            “Really? Because you seem to be quite tense,” Karkat ran a finger down Dave’s chest.

            Dave made a noise that sounded like a very unmanly whimper, “You know what, Vantas? No. You don’t get to be that sexy. That’s not fair! I swear to god. I thought you were going to wear heelys or something in an attempt at being cool. This is- I don’t even have a word for what you are right now. All I know is my pants are fucking suffocating my dick right now and it’s your fault, you vixen.”

            “But I-“

            “Incubus!” Dave dramatically called out before grabbing Karkat’s hand and pulling him over to the bar. He tapped the top of the counter and the bartender slid him over a shot. He downed it and turned to Karkat, “Do you wanna dance?”

            Karkat tapped the bar like Dave did and the bartender chuckled and slid over another. After the alcohol raced down his throat Karkat nodded, “Alright. I’m ready.”

            Dave led Karkat towards the dance floor and began to swing his hips with the beat, “I’m impressed. You got Moe to like you. Moe doesn’t even like me.”

            “It’s not that hard to dislike you,” Karkat moved with the music and slid his hands onto Dave’s shoulders. The alcohol was really starting to make him loosen up and maybe get a little too close to Dave.

            Dave’s hands went to Karkat’s hips, “Do _you_ dislike me?” He put his mouth near his ear and blew.

            Karkat’s heartbeat sped up, “Fuckin asshole,” Dave snickered, “Oh yeah?” Karkat grinded forward and Dave gasped.

            “That wasn’t funny.”

            “I strongly disagree with your definition of funny.”

They danced as the music and excitement in the air made them drunk. Karkat felt a buzzing in his head and as the night went on more and more people started to clear out of the club.

“Hey,” Dave pulled him closer so that their faces were only a few inches apart, “Do you want to get out of here?”

            “Yes,” The word came out before Karkat could even think about it.

“Moe!” Dave called out to the bartender, “The track should keep running until it’s closing time. I’ll pick my stuff up in the morning,” to Karkat he smiled, “Come on.”

The car ride was quiet and awkward but the leftover buzz from the club still lingered. When they arrived at their floor they just stared at each other, “Um,” Karkat said eloquently.

Dave opened his door, “Do you wanna come in?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so, will Karkat stick to his plan or will he give in? Big question. *does wiggle eyebrows* Easy answer.


	10. Finally Porn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I assume you've all been waiting for. That's right, boys and girls. The smut chapter. It's nsfw from here on out. Also, updates are now on Fridays so that's why this one's early. You lucky ducks.

One night of pleasure and loose morals wouldn’t hurt. That’s what Karkat thought as he threw his arms around Dave’s neck and kissed him. It was sloppy and drunken but it was so satisfying. Dave backtracked into the apartment and pulled them into the bedroom, slipping off their shoes and Karkat’s jacket in the process. He had to untangle himself from Karkat’s grasp to speak, a little breathless, “That was definitely a lot harder to do with you stuck to my face, not that I didn’t enjoy-.”

“Dave, shut the fuck up,” Karkat pushed Dave back onto the bed.

He froze up. _Shit._ What did he do now?

Dave’s eyes followed his movements as he awkwardly shuffled his feet and looked around. Dave reached out and pulled Karkat down on top of him, “Do you want me to take it from here?”

“Yeah…” Karkat was too startled for anything more eloquent.

Dave flipped their positions and trailed his fingers up, under Karkat’s shirt and along his sides. His touch was soft and torturous. He pulled the shirt over Karkat’s head and began peppering his collarbone with chaste kisses. Karkat shivered.

“Too… Too gentle,” He was beginning to lose his breath.

Dave took off his shades and looked up at him. His eyes were strikingly serious and clouded with desire, “I am going to keep touching you slowly and softly until you crave me completely,” He moved closer to whisper, hot and heavy, into Karkat’s ear, “I want you calling out for me.”

Karkat whimpered. Dave grinded down on him and- _Jesus_ -his pants were getting a bit too tight, “Take off my pants.”

Dave ran a finger over one of his nipples, “No.”

Karkat wrapped his arms around Dave’s neck and pulled him closer, “Please, Dave,” He whined.

Dave smiled deviously and complied, lifting Karkat’s hips with one hand and removing his pants with the other. When Karkat was free Dave began to kneed and rub the bulge that was becoming obvious in Karkat’s boxers, not lending enough friction to satisfy him by far.

Karkat nibbled at Dave’s earlobe, “Dave… Just-Fuck-Just take off your clothes too.”

“So bossy,” Dave spared Karkat for a few moments as he shed his jacket, followed by his angel wings, his pants, and finally his boxers.

There was an almost deafening silence hanging in the air before Karkat broke it, “…That can’t possibly fit,” He felt a wave of fear wash over him.

“It can and it also performs miracles. I swear. I’ll make you feel great.”

“There is no way it isn’t going to hurt!”

“Oh. Yeah. I mean, there might be some pain. But if you do it right with someone who knows what they’re doing and you prepare yourself properly, it’s also really enjoyable.”

Karkat gave Dave’s dick a few more cautious glances.

“It isn’t going to bite.”

“I know that!” Karkat scooted closer to Dave, “Can I just… get acquainted with it first?”

“Karkat, the dong whisperer.”

“YOU FUCKING CALL ME THAT AGAIN AND I’LL SQUEEZE YOUR DICK OFF.”

“Ooo… Ouch. I can feel myself going flaccid.”

“What a load of shit. You’re still half hard.”

Dave reached into Karkat’s boxers and ran his fingers over Karkat’s length, “And you are fully erect. Christ, I haven’t even done anything big to your little friend yet.”

“Ngh. Just, move your hand, please,” Karkat rolled his hips up into Dave’s hand while reaching for Dave’s cock. He began to pump, running his thumb over the head every now and then, spreading precum over it. Dave made his grip less loose and followed suit. While one of his hands was busy, he removed Karkat’s boxers with the other. The hand that wasn’t occupied with Karkat’s dick found its way to his ass. He squeezed. Karkat squeaked.

“Do you like having your ass fondled, Karkat?”

“Do you like having your ass handed to you, Strider?” Dave snickered and stopped gliding over Karkat’s dick, “You asshole! I almost-!”

“Chill out. I was just gonna reach under my bed and get some lube and a condom.”

Karkat blanched, “Oh. Okay…”

“Do you want to try fingering yourself or would you like me to?”

“I-I think I’d prefer if you did it.”

“Alright,” Dave poured some lube onto his hands, “Then your job is to put on the condom.”

“I guess I can do that,” Karkat did as he was instructed as Dave applied lube to his hand and reached around to begin teasing the area around his asshole. Karkat’s hands started shaking. _That… That felt kind of…_ “Dave!” Karkat moaned.

“Do your job properly,” His words carried a taunting lilt.

Karkat leaned his head on Dave’s chest, panting, “You’re such a bastard.”

“Hmmm?” Dave hummed into his neck as he inserted the first finger. After loosening it up he inserted another and began a scissoring motion. Karkat was a mess in his arms, babbling incoherent little threats and praises. He hadn’t even finished putting the condom on Dave, he was so distracted. Dave started to thrust his fingers in further. Karkat tightly grabbed his shoulders and screamed out his name. Dave mused, “Ah. Gonna remember that spot.”

Dave pulled out his fingers and laid him back down. Karkat was tearing up and had begun breathing erratically. His hair was tousled and his lips were glossy with saliva. He was beautiful. Dave adjusted the condom until it was on properly and then leaned over Karkat, “I’m going to enter now, alright?”

Karkat nodded, too gone to use any real words. Dave kissed his forehead. He widened Karkat’s legs a smidge and aligned the head of his dick with Karkat’s hole. He slid in slowly, trying to get all of himself inside. Karkat arched up and called out, “Dave!”

Dave’s breathing was beginning to speed up, “I’m going to give you time to adjust. Just tell me when to move.”

Karkat reached up and brushed the hair out of Dave’s face. The gesture was intimate and warmer than anything else they had done that night.

Dave moved.

He was going at a good pace, aiming for that spot he had found earlier, the one that would make Karkat call out his name in a desperate cry for more pleasure. One of Karkat’s hands gripped the bed sheets. The other was marking up Dave’s back, trying to hold on with all its might.

Dave was enthralled by the noises Karkat made. The little “Ah!”s. The needy outcries. And his personal favorite, his name. It rolled out of Karkat’s mouth as a demand, as an accusation, and with such passion that it made Dave want to rock harder and faster.

With a final call of his name Karkat came, skin flushed, shaking with the ecstasy of his orgasm. Dave kept thrusting, helping Karkat ride out his right before he followed. He pulled out slowly and collapsed on top of Karkat.

They panted heavily until Karkat’s tiny “huff”s were replaced by steady breathing. He had fallen asleep. Dave went to fetch a towel and cleaned them off before snuggling back into bed with him.

As the early morning light leaked into the bedroom from the curtain-less window, Karkat awoke with a start. He had a headache, but there was a pleasant heat at his side. He moved a heavy arm that was draped over his torso. Then he recalled the previous night. He had had sex with Dave. They were naked and in the same bed and--Fuck he could remember it all. He remembered how his lips tingled from being kissed and how hot his skin burned when Dave trailed his fingertips over it. He remembered an overwhelming feeling of pleasure and such a pure, happy feeling when they- _Oh god. Oh no._

How could he let himself do this?

_I had been drinking._

He didn’t even have that much.

_I was just following Dave’s stupid pace!_

But he wanted to spend the night with Dave just as much as Dave did with him.

_It’s okay. It was just sex. It_ wasn’t _like I announced my undying love for the guy._

Wait. His undying lov-?

_FUCK._

He pulled back the covers and hopped out of bed. He felt like he was going to be sick. He started to grab his things before he decided he didn’t want to wear them. He went through Dave’s drawers and found a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Both were going to look way too big on him but he didn’t care. He needed to get away. When he was dressed, he heard Dave shift and turned to face the bed.

“You’re up early. Where are you going?”

Karkat’s eyes prickled and he felt his eyes begin to fill with tears, “I need to leave.”

Dave sensed something strange in the tone of Karkat’s voice and snapped out of his grogginess. He sat up, “Wait. Why?”

“I can’t see you anymore. I’m going to return your clothes so don’t worry,” Karkat made his way towards the bedroom door.

“Hey. Hold on. Karkat!” Dave got up and followed him out of the room with a bed sheet wrapped around his waist, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“No!” Karkat held the front door’s knob in his hand, unturned.

“Karkat… Look at me.”

Karkat peeked over and took in Dave. He was naked and vulnerable, every emotion out in the open. His skin was marred with tiny scratches and some bruises. Scratches and bruises that he had left. Karkat imagined running over to him and wrapping his arms around him, burying his head in his chest as he cried.

But that’s what scared him the most. Because that meant it had finally happened. He had fallen in love with Dave. Sex for a night, he could have lived with. He remembered trying to convince himself that was all it was going to be last night when he decided to take Dave up on his offer. But now he was ruined. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t find a girl and bring her home to his father when he loved Dave. He was fucked.

So he ripped out his heart and opened the door, bolting to his apartment. The tears only began to fall when his apartment door closed behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go on. Cry. I want to taste your tears. I hope no one thought this would be all wrapped up after the first smut chapter, because when I said long and developmental, I fucking meant it. So buckle up cause I'm about to show you a brand new world. I finally have a well thought out plot line for a story and I am going to milk every bit of it out of the heaving tits of literature. Brace yourselves. This is gonna be a ride for all of us.


	11. Awkward Idiots Dancing Around Each Other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Also a bit of nsfw stuff so tada!

The day after Karkat ran out on Dave, he awoke with puffy eyes and an appetite for something sweet. He needed a donut. He mulled over the clothes he had left at Dave’s over a cup of coffee. Well, okay, the clothes he could live without, but he really did like those boots. He grabbed a gray sweater jacket, and readied to make a run to Dunkin Donuts to eat his weight in pastries shaped like cock rings.

He opened his door and almost tripped over a brown paper bag. Inside he found his clothes neatly folded, his boots, and a note with red writing.

It read, “i thought it was a waste to just keep these so im returning them wear them again for me some time- dave”.

Karkat crumbled the note and took the bag of his belongings inside. He lifted everything above his head and almost threw the package into his trash bin out of blind fury but he couldn’t work up enough nerve. He looked at the note again. Dave wrote in all lower case and didn’t dot his i’s. Dave didn’t use proper punctuation. He shouldn’t be thinking how adorable that was.

            _NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!_

            Karkat spent the next couple of weeks avoiding leaving his apartment as much as possible. If it wasn’t work related or grocery shopping he was going to stay put. He didn’t want to risk a run-in with Dave.

            But he still had to leave his apartment eventually, and it wasn’t long before he accidentally saw him in the complex’s communal laundry room when he had to retrieve his whites. He was sitting on a bench, fiddling with his iPhone when Karkat walked in. He refused to look at Dave, but he could feel his eyes following him as he crossed the room. He couldn’t help the heat that crept into his cheeks and he fumbled with and cursed at his clothes nervously every time they slipped through his hands. Eventually, Dave sighed and walked out of the room.

            Dave was trying to handle the situation like an adult. He was usually an impatient guy. When he liked someone, he wanted all of them and as fast as possible. But he had told Terezi he wouldn’t push Karkat too hard. So he gave him some space to work out his own internal conflict while he tried to seek out some advice.

            “No. Listen, Rez. I don’t know what to do. He won’t even look at me,” Dave shifted the phone to his shoulder as he made himself a sandwich.

            “Dave. In all my years of knowing Karkat, you are the first guy to make him open up like that. I’m actually very impressed you managed to deflower him. I’m sure he’ll come around.”

            “This would be so much easier if he was only upset that I stole his maidenhood. I’d be taking responsibility, and shit, like a good senpai.”

            “Yeah, daddy issues are a bitch to deal with. Cry me a river, cool kid. If you’re worried he might just keep avoiding you, why don’t you take the initiative? Be a man, Dave.”

            “That’s some slammin advice. I didn’t want to give him the idea that I’m not interested after we- well, you know.”

            “Dave, I am an adult. You can say the word ‘sex’ to me. I promise, I can take it.”

            “But can you handle the word ‘penis’?”

            She cackled, “No. Obviously I’m not _that_ mature,” She groaned, “Unfortunately, my job beckons and I need to pretend I can control myself again in order to convict this rapist, so later.”

            “Wow. That sounds so boring,” He deadpanned, “Bye.”

            The next day Dave tried to buy a coffee at the shop Karkat worked at. The bell on the door jingled and the strange cat girl that greeted him before welcomed him and asked if he wanted to talk to Karkat.

            “Where is he?” He wasn’t anywhere in sight.

            “Oh. He got really flust-purred and then asked Equius if he could help take inventory in the back today.”

            “How long ago did that happen?”

            “Like, as soon as you came into view of the shop, purr-tty much,” Nepeta huffed. Oh, alright. Cat girl knew what was up. Dave sent some respect points her way mentally and actually made an effort to remember the name on her employee tag this time.

            “Yeah, don’t bother pullin him out for me. He… purr-obaly doesn’t want to see me right meow.”

            Nepeta beamed, “Do you still want something to drink?”

            “Yes, please,” He nervously glanced at a larger man behind the counter, “Um. You’re making my drink, right? That guy’s sweating pretty damn hard. Is he okay?”

            Nepeta squinted her eyes and she “tsked”, “That’s Equius. He’s our manager. He’s a bit… unnerved that Karkat ordered him to switch job positions for a moment. I’ll make your drink, so don’t worry,” She moved behind the counter and tried to shoo Equius away playfully, “Go away, gross-y gross! You’re scaring away potential customers!”

            “O-Oh… Well then I guess I’ll go switch back with Mr. Vantas now...”

            “Yeah, you do that. Also, towel yourself off.”

            Dave collected his drink and left while Equius went in search of Karkat.

            After work, Karkat was thoroughly exhausted. He threw himself on his bed and stared at the small pile of unfamiliar clothes in the corner of his room. _Shit._ He had forgotten to return Dave’s t-shirt and sweats. Dave was nice enough to return his things, even though he also added that ridiculous note. He should probably return the favor at some point.

            He strolled over to the pile and picked up the clothes. They smelled like Dave. Images of Dave over top of him panting and grunting and making him feel good filled his mind. He felt his dick stir a bit. He cursed himself silently and slumped down next to his bed. Was he really going to do this? Was he really going to masturbate to Dave’s scent alone?

            He slipped his hand into his pants.

            Yes. Yes, he was.

            He made his touch gentle, guiding it down his pelvis. The light contact made his stomach squirm in anticipation. How did Dave do it? He was way too tender with his actions and by the end of it Karkat felt overly sensitive to even the slightest touch. He went slower than he usually did, palming himself lightly and making sure he felt every movement as he began to stroke.

            He groaned and bit his tongue to stifle the noises he was making. It was shameful what he was doing. It was embarrassing.

_It felt so good._

            Shaking, he brought the shirt up to his nose and breathed in Dave’s scent again. He whimpered and quickened his pace. As pleasure washed over him and heat pooled in the bottom of his stomach he couldn’t hold it back anymore and called out, “D-Dave!”

            His vision blurred and he came with a choked sob. When had he started crying?

            “F-fuck.”

            There was a loud creaking from somewhere in the apartment and then the sound of rushing water. An audible metallic grating noise filled the air and the water sound grew louder, “What the-?”

            Water started to pool into his bedroom.

            “Oh, holy hell! WHAT THE FUCK,” Karkat rushed from his room and went into the kitchen. Water was pouring out from under the sink and he thought about the noise the faucet had always made when he ran the tap. He had complained about it when he had moved in but he didn’t think it was ever going to be a huge problem.

            Damn. Was he wrong, or what?

He opened the cabinet under the sink, the source of the water. He wasn’t a plumber but there was definitely something wrong with the pipes. Sudden realization dawned on him and he paled, “My romance novels!”

            He ran back into his bedroom and snatched up his collection before the water could reach the pile he had set up in the farthest corner of the room. When they were safely on his bed he called the building’s owner.

            The owner of the building was a perky little Latina lady named Feferi. Her hair was long, black and curled in around her voluptuous body like a cape. She wore a pink blazer and a white skirt with little orange and pink fish printed on it. She was wearing heels, but even so, she was still shorter than Karkat, “I’m sorry, Mr. Vantas. Your room’s piping was put in by a different company than the one I used to hire. Our maintenance guy says it was a scam and they used faulty pipes. They were awfully fishy.”

            “Why didn’t you just use the old company?” Karkat could barely contain his rage. He didn’t want to yell at her but he was agitated enough to let some venom seep into his words.

            Feferi was obviously not perturbed by his tone in the slightest and continued on enthusiastically, “Whale, between you anemone, I was sort of sea-ing the guy that owned the old piping business I was using. After I stopped sea-ing him, I didn’t reel-ly,” and here she made a reeling in gesture with her hands, “want to continue using his company.”

            “Can you, like, not use water related puns right now. This situation isn’t funny from my point of view. I can’t exactly continue living here.”

            Feferi’s smile faltered a bit, “Okay. I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit. Don’t you have a place to stay while I bring in someone to redo the plumbing and take care of all the water damage?”

            “Yeah, he can stay with me,” Karkat froze up and twisted around to see Dave approach them, “You need a place to stay? I’ve got plenty of room.”

            Feferi clapped her hands together happily, a gesture, Karkat thought, that resembled a spazzy seal, “Well, that makes your life a little easier doesn’t it? I’ll pay you back for any damages done to your things and, in the meantime, you can stay with Dave. Isn’t that wonderful?”

            Karkat watched as his landlord sashayed off before finally making eye contact with Dave.

            “So, do you want to stay with me until your crib is finished getting pimped out?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I think I can do better than this chapter, but, hey, I plan to improve! Also, the awful faucet noise was mentioned in the first chapter in, like, the first paragraph if anyone wants to check it out. Comment and kudos are always appreciated as always and thanks for reading!


	12. Living Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a day late! It needed some editing before I was comfortable posting it.

“Live with you? I just pulled the asshole-one-night-stand shit on you and you’re offering me a place to stay?” Karkat felt a prick of guilt in his chest but he pushed through it, “Are you nuts?”

  
Dave remained impassive, “You don’t have to take the offer. I mean, this seems like a pretty fair trade off. I get to live with the guy I like and you get a place to stay while simultaneously denying your obvious attraction towards me.”

  
Karkat saw red, “You… SMUGASS MOTHERFUCKING CRETAN-.”

  
“I’ll leave you alone, mostly, if you want,” Dave interrupted Karkat’s tirade, “You can pay half the rent if you feel the need to contribute, but I’m makin dinner and you have to sleep on the couch.”

  
“The couch?”

  
“Well, I figured you wouldn’t want to sleep in my bed.”

  
“Oh, right…” The terms were almost brutally in favor of Karkat’s attempt to stay as far away from Dave Strider as possible.

  
Dave smirked a bit. He felt neglected the past few weeks and this small act of the cold shoulder was a little punishment he felt he needed to doll out, “So what do you think?”

  
Karkat thought over his other options. He didn’t want to impose on his friends. They weren’t that close as of late and they all had lives of their own now. He could stay at his dad’s but… “Fine,” Karkat glared at the ugly orange carpeting around Dave’s feet, “But there needs to be designated times for music playing since some of us appreciate quiet.”

  
“Quiet hours, huh? It’s like college all over again. Alright, RA Vantas, you need help getting your shit into the dorm room or what?”

  
“Or what,” Karkat mumbled as he shuffled into his apartment to pack up the necessities he needed.

  
After Karkat settled his suitcase of belongings in Dave’s bedroom and threw a few blankets on the couch, he relaxed into the sofa with a good book, feeling awkward and out of place in Dave’s living room, “So what’s for dinner?”

  
“My friend dropped off some crabs earlier so I figured I could make them.”

  
“I hate seafood,” Karkat crossed his arms and pouted.

  
Dave threw Karkat a suggestive smile, “Well, you haven’t lived til you’ve tried my crabs.”

  
“Gross!” Enraged, Karkat threw his book at him. It bounced off of his chest and he managed to catch it. Karkat felt a prickle of annoyance.

  
One of Dave’s eyebrows shot up, “Dancing in the Moonlight? Okay, what the fuck is this?”

  
“It’s a fantastic work of literature. What else would it be, you uncultured fuck?”

  
Dave flipped to a random page and snorted, “This is erotica. You read smutty romance novels? Unironically?”

  
Karkat flushed and shook with fury, “Obviously, you are incapable of appreciating such a fine piece of art,” Karkat strode up to Dave and held out his hand, “Now, give it back. I was just getting to the best part.”

  
“It’s a piece alright. Oh lord. It’s pretty worn out. Have you read this multiple times? You’re actually a sappy romantic shrouded in a hissing, screeching fur ball exterior, aren't you?”

  
“I am not a sappy romantic! I am a talented and well respected romance film critic who likes to keep up with his field of study.”

  
“You write critiques for movies?”

  
“For an online newspaper, yes.”

  
“Cool. I didn't know that,” Dave handed Karkat his book back, “Don’t read too much smut before dinner though. ‘No boners at the table’ was rule number two of the Strider household.”

  
“What was rule number one?”

  
“To ‘be on your toes at all times’. Rule number two used to be ‘always wear your shades for maximum ironies’ but after my rebellious middle school phase ‘no boners at the table’ was pushed up on my Bro’s list of priorities.”

  
“Your family sounds strange.”

  
“That reminds me. Got any plans for Thanksgivings?”

  
“My family usually has a dinner, but I don’t really attend it anymore. It’s a bother,” He usually received news from Kanaya on how things were at his house and how is father’s been holding up.

  
“Do you wanna kick it with my family then? You might enjoy it.”

  
“No, thank you. One Strider is enough for me.”

  
“Alright. Suit yourself.”

  
They ate dinner relatively quietly. Dave made Karkat a peanut butter sandwich that he insisted on having instead of the crabs. Dave managed to irk Karkat purposely with loud slurping noises as he sucked the meat from the crab legs, but Karkat suffered it through silently like a champ. After dinner Karkat forced Dave to let him clean the dishes, “Just go take a shower or something.”

  
“You don’t want help at least?”

  
“No,” Karkat turned away, ending the conversation without letting the other party get another word in.

  
Dave sighed, “Fine. I concede. No peekin, kay?”

  
Karkat growled in the back of his throat, a primal noise he didn't think he was capable of making. How was it that Dave always managed to push all his buttons like that?

  
A minute later he heard the shower running and he sighed to himself. A part of him kind of wished Dave would get sick of him being a rude and dismissive asshole and just kick him out already. The rest of him was telling him to be grateful and where the fuck else would you go? When the dishes were deemed sufficiently hygienic enough Karkat returned to the couch with his book.

  
Before he could find his page the bathroom door opened and hot steam rushed out. Dave stepped out in a towel, “Hey, so, baths all yours.”  
Karkat’s eyes trailed down Dave’s form appreciatively before he reddened and realized he was staring, “Um… yeah. Okay,” He got up and moved towards the bathroom but Dave didn't move.

  
“Did you want a picture, Vantas? You were eyeing me pretty hard,” He tilted his head down and Karkat could see his eyes over the rims of his glasses.

  
“Strider, just move,” The doorway of the bathroom was small and as he made to move past Dave, he couldn’t avoid brushing his skin and _damn, he’s warm and wet and he smells so fucking good_. Dave was overly aware of Karkat’s obvious flustered state and leaned down to blow hot air in his ear as he struggled to get by. Karkat stumbled the rest of the way into the bathroom, his legs feeling wobbly, “Shit!” He smooshed his hand up against his ear, “Stop being such an ass!” He screamed before slamming the door.

  
His shower was torturous. His mind was filled with Dave. _Dave showered here. Dave was naked here. You’re using Dave’s soap. Oh my fucking god. You are so pathetic. He already knows you’re into him. You could sleep with him whenever you felt like it. JUST FUCKING GIVE IN_ , “fuck…” He rested his head on the shower wall and sighed. He didn’t remember ever being this needy, but whenever he was around Dave his mind went fuzzy and his body, left to its own devices, since his brain stopped working, did whatever the fuck it wanted.

  
And what was with that whole talk about going to his family’s for Thanksgiving? That couldn't happen, right? Wasn't he just being polite? Although, it did feel pretty good to be invited. And he had to admit, he was curious about the environment Dave grew up in and the people that he’d been raised around.

  
He ran his shampoo-coated hands through his hair, the suds coating his scalp in a nice foamy lather. The smell of it trickled down and he had been right. Dave did use apple scented shampoo. It made him feel comfortable and excited all at once. He…

  
He kind of wanted to relieve himself in Dave’s shower.

  
_Goddamn it! No._

  
He had been doing too much thinking about Dave. He was not going to entertain another thought about tugging it to his stupid douchey face. He didn't care about how wound up he got. He needed to break away from all the sexual thoughts that were plaguing him as of late. And if he needed to deny himself relief to do that than so be it. He set the water to cold and the growing heat that had started making its way downtown like Vanessa Carlton slowly ebbed away.

  
When he felt he was of sound mind and thinking a bit more logically he turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He opened the door and burst into Dave’s bedroom to retrieve clothes. Dave was at his turntables and he didn't turn around. He wasn't playing any music, just resting there with his head down like he’d fallen asleep or something.

  
Dave let out a soft breath and Karkat carefully tiptoed over. Yep. He was definitely asleep. His arms were folded neatly and his head was tucked into them a smidge. His glasses were askew and his eyebrows were drawn up like he was dreaming about something he didn't like.

  
Karkat poked his side. Dave didn't stir, “Goddammit,” He gently removed Dave’s shades and set them on his dresser. He knew he wasn't strong enough to move Dave so he threw a blanket over his shoulders, at the very least. He looked over at Dave’s bed, unoccupied and practically begging Karkat to sleep in it.

  
He gave in to his exhaustion, threw on some sweats, and curled up, tuckered out by all the unresolved sexual tension he had had to deal with that day.

  
The next morning Karkat felt his cheek being prodded. He opened his eyes, squinted, and saw Dave holding his finger out lazily, “What do you waaaaant?” He whined.

  
“You broke one of the terms, Kat.”

  
Karkat turned his face into the pillow and groaned.

  
“Pretty sure there should be some form of punishment involved.”

  
“’Punishment’ better not be as sexual as it sounds or I swear to God-.”

  
“Come with me to my family’s Thanksgiving dinner.”

  
Karkat sighed and lifted his head, “Is that all?”

  
Dave raised an eyebrow and smirked, “You sound like you wanted the punishment to be something sexual.”

  
“Thanksgiving with the Striders. Alright. Let’s do this. Bring it on,” He dropped his head back into the pillow and tried to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always comments and kudos are appreciated. Thank you for continuing to read this!


	13. From Strip Malls To Texan Drawls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doo doo doo doooo! I made sure this one was on time. I'm happy about the great feedback I recieved on the last chapter I posted. I hope this one also meets expectations. Thank you for continued readership!

            Apparently, Dave forgot to mention that his family lived in Texas and that a visit would require a flight from their present location, New Jersey, “Why did you even move all the way out here?” Karkat tried to make conversation while they waited to board the plane.

            “My Bro is kind of well-known around my area and I didn’t want people to give me gigs just because we were related. I moved here to get out of his shadow and make my own. Plus, I saw the _Jersey Shore_ and thought this place could use some better DJs.”

            Karkat grimaced, “That show is completely ridiculous. I’m pretty sure almost none of those actors are actually Italian.”

            “Oh, so you’re the official ethnic stereotype police. Is that right?”

            “No, dickwagon. I’m offended as an Italian. We don’t all go get fake tans, work out at the gym, and then party. We talk very loudly, use our hands to try and communicate, and have pretty nicely tanned skin all on our own. That show is demeaning. Especially their use of the word “guido”. Do you know what that is? That was an insult people would say to an Italian-American person and any Italian person that took pride in their ethnicity wouldn’t be saying it on television.”

            “Yeah. It seems like you’ve got an issue with the show. I can respect that and you make some valid points. Your tan _is_ way nicer than Snookie’s.”

            “Sorry. Looking back that kind of sounded like a rant. I have an uncle who’s really into social justice and it’s hard to shut him up sometimes so I absorbed a few things… Well, just the shit he gets right. Also, I might be kind of nervous about flying.”

            “You’ve never been on a plane before?”

            “No. Also, I’ve never left New Jersey,” Karkat fidgeted in place a little and tried to read Dave’s face. It was difficult with his shades obstructing it, “All I know is there aren’t going to be any Wawas when we get there.”

            “Hey, man. That’s cool we’ll take it slow and easy. Nothing to freak out about. You can even hold my hand if you want.”

            “I’m not a kid! I wouldn’t be that scared… It’s more like an excited scared? I don’t know. I can hear my heart beat pounding in my ears and my hands are sweaty. The floor isn’t moving right?”

            Dave put his hands on Karkat’s shoulders and steadied him, “Breathe. Jesus. You’re like in major panic mode. Nothing bad is going to happen. I’ll even knock on wood for you so I don’t jinx us,” Dave looked around, “Now where’s some wood… Oh well. Doesn’t matter. Odds are in our favor. One hundred percent of planes make it to the ground. It’s science.”

            Karkat glared at Dave and opened his mouth to ask him where else the planes would go if not the ground but a petite yet curvy flight attendant with copious amounts of black curling hair called everyone’s attention so she could usher the passengers into the plane.

            “That’s our cue!” Dave grabbed Karkat’s hand and bent down to whisper into his ear, “I brought medicine if you need it to not have a freak out but you might enjoy the ride. Personally, I usually can’t stop looking out the window, but if you end up liking it we can trade seats.”

            “Um… yeah. Okay.”

            The flight attendant stopped them as they entered the plane, “Can I see your tickets for a moment?” Her name tag read, “Aradia”.

            Dave pointed at the tag, “Your name looks pretty cool. Is it Arabian?”

            “No. It’s ‘Aradia’,” Dave and Karkat exchanged longsuffering glances, “I’m just kidding! It was a joke! I actually have no idea where my name originates from. Anyway, you guys are in first class. I’ll take you to your seats.”

            Karkat gave Dave a worried look, “First class?”

            “Striders fly in style.”

            “No. I mean, can you really afford to spend that on the both of us? I’m tempted to pay for some of the ticket now…”

            “Don’t worry about it. My Bro lent me the money. He makes enough. We can afford it,” Dave lowered his shades and winked, “Just relax.”

            Karkat groaned and slid into the seat Aradia gestured to, “Nervous about the flight?” Aradia giggled, “Well, you should know that most planes crash due to total pilot error. Statistically, there should be absolutely no weight on your shoulders when this plane goes down. Oops! I meant ‘if’. Isn’t that comforting?” Karkat whimpered.

            Dave quickly tapped the attendant and politely asked her to leave. She smiled too happily for someone who said so many disconcerting things and then left them to ask an elderly couple if they wanted drinks.

            “Wow. That didn’t help our situation at all. Anyway, you’ve decided to take the window seat?”

            “I just thought I might feel better if I could see what was happening outside of the plane, you know?”

            “Sure. By all means, do whatever makes you feel more comfortable.”

            Dave sat down and the pilot instructed that everyone should buckle up. The plane moved and Karkat squeezed his armrests. It drove to the start of the runway and Karkat began to shake. Dave pulled him to his chest as it began to accelerate. He could hear Dave’s heart hammering and the steady beat was oddly soothing. After his ears popped and the increase in gravity slowly teetered away he looked out the window and saw they were eyelevel with clouds, “Woah,” was all he could think to say. It was magical. Karkat scooted closer to the window and looked down. He felt his stomach lurch at how high they were, but seeing so much land all at once was breathtaking.

            He heard a click behind him and then Dave had his head resting on his shoulder, sneaking a peek of the view for himself, “Isn’t cool?”

            There was another slightly different clicking noise, like heels on metal and then Aradia was peeking over Dave’s shoulder, “Isn’t it? Right now, we’re about three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand feet above the ground! Also, the captain has not permitted anyone to take off their seatbelts yet.”

            Dave and Karkat slid back down into their seats slowly, eyeing the flight attendant as she made her way to the back of the plane. Dave put his seatbelt back on, “That was scary as hell.”

            Karkat nodded in agreement, “Scarier than the liftoff.”

            The novelty of flying wore off after a while and Karkat found himself bored, “Hey. Tell me about your family.”

            Dave took out his headphones and sighed, “Why not? You might need to be prepared. First, there’s my bro, Dirk. He’s always been one of those creator types. Engineering, sewing, music making. You name it, he can do it. Then there’s his boyfriend, Jake,” Ah. So Dave wasn’t under a whole lot of pressure about his sexuality at home, “They live together. Jake’s kind of slow, but in an endearing way, mostly. He really likes movies. Has a ton of posters of them,” His mouth dipped into a frown, “Then there’s the Lalondes.”

            There was a silence that hung in the air for a few seconds before Karkat broke it, “You gonna elaborate or..?”

            “Yeah. Hold on. I’m thinking about how to explain it,” He twiddled his thumbs and pulled his mouth to one side, “Okay. I’m ready. So the Lalondes are extended family. There’s my Aunt Roxy, who can outdrink a German bar fly, and my cousin, Rose, who likes to masturbate to Freudian text and mind fuck people into thinkin they’ve got a major Oedipus Complex,” Dave actually gnawed on his bottom lip a bit, showing signs of unease.

            “ _Do_ you have an Oedipus Complex?” Karkat asked teasingly.

            “No!”

            “Gentlemen!” Aradia appeared behind Dave so suddenly he jumped a foot and grabbed at his chest, “You’re getting quite loud and it’s disturbing some of the people trying to sleep.”

            “Jesus, lady! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

            “Sir, did you know that your chest isn’t the only part of your body to feel pressure when experiencing a heart attack? There’s also pain in your arms, back, stomach, neck, and jaw. To make your acting better, I recommend adding a spasm over one of the other affected areas as well as the chest for maximum believability.”

            “Of course you do.”

            Aradia waved and left again. Karkat tilted his head back and blew out air, “I’m actually thinking about following the lead of these other assholes and passing the fuck out. Will you wake me when we get there?”

            “Sure,” Dave replied tiredly.

            A few hours later Karkat was shaken awake. At some point during his nap he had begun to use Dave’s shoulder as a pillow and he quickly snapped out of his grogginess to lean away from him.

            “We’re here sleeping beauty. You slept through the landing.”

            “Oh, goody,” Karkat yawned.

            “You know _The Lion King_? Well, you just sounded like Scar.”

            “’Yes. Well, forgive me for not leaping for joy. Bad back, you know.’” Karkat stretched until he heard his spine crack satisfyingly.

            Dave threw an arm around Karkat’s neck and pulled him close to plant a kiss on his forehead, “You are the cutest loser I’ve ever met.”

            Karkat felt his ears heat up and he pushed Dave away, “Let’s just get our stuff and go already!”

            They hailed a cab and it drove them to a really nice apartment building, “We’re headed to the top floor,” Dave pointed upward, “We’ve also got access to the roof.”

            “Why would you need access to the roof?”

            Dave smiled like he was reliving a really fond memory and took a minute to pull out a long, thin bag from his suitcase, “I’m gonna need this at the ready.”

            “What’s in the bag?”

            “You’ll see.”

            Karkat’s curiosity ate away at him while they rode the elevator up to the top floor. Dave lead him to a worn white door with scarring that didn’t seem to fit with the extravagance of the rest of the building. In a matter of seconds Dave had pushed Karkat to the right of the door and he had leapt to its left. Karkat fell back on his ass.

            There was a noise that sounded like a gun firing and a bullet passed through the door, leaving behind a new peephole.

            “Goddamit, Jake! I can’t just sand that one out!” There was a deep voice with a heavy Texan drawl coming from behind the door and then someone chuckled.

            The door opened and a muscular guy with pointy hair and pointier shades peered out to assess the damage done to the door. He had a hat in one hand and a katana in the other. He saw Karkat on the floor and grinned. He closed the door and brought his sword up in time to block Dave’s. _Oh. So, that’s what was in the bag._

            Another man, this one extremely tan, wearing prescription glasses, and probably the “Jake” the other guy had been talking to, reopened the door and walked out all smiles, “How’s it goin ol’ chap?” He held out a hand to Karkat and pulled him to his feet, “Welcome to the Strider household!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MORE CHARACTERS ARE BEING INTRODUCED. CAN I PROPERLY PORTRAY THEM ALL OR WILL THEY ALL FALL OUT OF CHARACTER??? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK.


	14. A Puppet Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late again. I'm dealing with a few problems right now. I'm sort of getting bullied and also I have the first round of exams this week. Gosh college is hard. I may have to prolong when I post chapters or become more irregular and just post when I can. I'm really sorry about that but I'll try to stay on track if I can.

            Karkat gaped at Jake, tightening the grip he had on the man’s hand as he felt a knot of tension, greater than that from flying for the first time, well up and take root in his stomach. He tried to peek over the gun-toting person’s shoulder and see if Dave was alright, but Jake obliviously moved to remake eye contact with Karkat and obscured his vision, “Come on now! Let’s head inside! You might want to close your mouth. Don’t want to catch any flies!” Jake tugged at his hand and gestured inside.

            Karkat pointed stupidly to the sounds of clanging swords behind the open door, “Is he-? Are they-?”

            “Oh, they’ll be along shortly. Don’t fret over them. They do this sort of thing all the time. Why, Dirk and I were just engaging in some fisticuffs ourselves, before you two showed up. You’re the last to arrive, by the way.”

Jake managed to pull Karkat into the apartment and holstered his gun. The layout of the apartment was very open. The kitchen was near the entryway and farther in Karkat could see part of the living room. There was a hallway just before that that he assumed led to a few bedrooms and a bathroom. Another door, juxtapose to the hallway might have been a closet, but Dave did say something about going up to the roof, so it also might have been a staircase leading to the top of the apartment complex.

Jake hollered in the direction of the living room, “Roxy! Rose! Dave’s here! And he brought a guest!” He turned to Karkat and winked while shaping his hands like pistols and pointing them Karkat’s way. _What a complete lunatic._

Heavy breathing filled Karkat’s ears as Dave, sweaty and out of breath, slung an arm around his shoulders. He was all too warm against him, “Have you met anyone else yet?” Dave smiled.

“We need to talk.”

“Wha-,” Karkat cut him off by tugging on his shirt collar and pulling him past Dirk and through the door. He closed it behind him and then let go of the fabric, “What’s wrong?”

“YOU CAN’T FUCKING DO THAT!” Karkat was practically vibrating with the copious amounts of adrenaline he’d been holding back from befuddlement alone. He took a shaky breath and lowered his voice, “You can’t just suddenly pull out swords and start swinging them around with a person I’ve never seen before! Meanwhile, Mr. Lacking-But-Packing just yanked me into foreign territory while holding a fucking pistol in his other hand. Do you understand why I’m upset?”

There was silence as Dave just observed Karkat huffing, “You were scared?”

Karkat’s lip trembled a little and his eyes stung, “You’re a fucking ass!” He punched him in the chest but Dave didn’t even flinch.

“Hey, I’m sorry. That was my bad. I should have prepped you for this better. Shit,” Dave didn’t know what to do with his hands. He wanted to hug Karkat and settle him down, but he was pretty riled up, “I could have told you a little more on the plane. I guess I focused on the dangers of Rose more than the weird quirks of the rest of my family because she’s a bit more dangerous from my perspective. That was totally my fault.”

Karkat leaned into Dave’s chest and sniffled.

“Are you crying? Shit. SHIT. Fuck fuck fuck. Okay, I’m sorry. Jesus, my family is super strange and it’s totally alright if you want to jump ship.”

“It’s fine!” Karkat’s voice was muffled by the fabric, “I just needed some time to adjust,” He tore himself away from Dave and rubbed his eyes, “Okay. I’m ready now.”

Karkat opened the door and Dirk had Jake pinned against the kitchen table, his tongue down his throat. His mind blanked as he stared.

Dave covered Karkat’s eyes and addressed his brother, “Dirk! Stop trying to freak him out! He already had to dodge a bullet today.”

Dirk stepped away from Jake, who was red faced and covering his face with his hands, mumbling to himself. Dirk frowned, “You’re no fun.”

Two similarly looking ladies stood by observing the scene. The older of the two, whom Karkat had assumed was Dave’s aunt Roxy, was giggling and twirling a martini in her hand. The younger, looked just like her mom. She had short blonde hair and a pale complexion. The only difference was in her eyes. They consumed everything they fell upon and it wasn’t hard to see the inner calculations and internalizing that went on behind them. She picked at details like a vulture. This was without a doubt Dave’s cousin, Rose.

“Davey!” Roxy set down her drink and gave Dave a hug, “Just in time for our anal Thanksgiving puppet show!”

“You meant “annual”… right?” Dave raised an eyebrow.

“Roxy snickered, “Maaaaaybe. But then again, maybe not.”

Rose greeted him next, extending her hand presumably to be shaken, but by the way Dave had described her, Karkat was looking for anything that might indicate she was asking for a blood pact, “David. You’ve brought a guest,” Her tone was snide.

 “Yep,” He smacked her hand, as if she’d been asking for five.

“Still as charming as ever.”

“Same to you,” He smirked and then tried to address everyone, “Hey, guys. So this is Karkat, and he’s gonna be kickin it with us so I’m gonna go ahead and ask that we put a few boundaries in place. Bro, if you could not fuck your boyfriend in front of all of us that would be swell. Jake, please keep the safety on if you’re gonna keep your guns on you. Rose, don’t diagnose him with anything, don’t tell him he’s subconsciously down with incest, and don’t give him an existential crisis. And Roxy. Goddamn. You just keep being you. You’re perfect.”

Roxy tussled Dave’s hair while the others mumbled among themselves.

Dirk cleared his throat, “Well, now that everyone’s here and all the pleasantries are out of the way, we can get started on the puppet show.”

Karkat’s eyebrows knit together, “Puppet show? You can’t be serious.”

Dirk’s face was impassive and intimidating, “I’m always serious about puppets.”

Karkat followed everyone into the living room where a little puppet stage was set up. Roxy passed out a few packets of paper to everyone. Dave came up behind Karkat and whispered to him, “Roxy and Rose always write our scripts while Dirk makes the puppets. Then we perform it for the ladies. What part did you get?”

Karkat looked down at his script, “Native American number two?”

“Awesome. I’m Pilgrim number two. We go on after Dirk and Jake.”

Rose and Roxy sat themselves on the sofa. Karkat watched as Rose fiddled with a stuffed animal that had a bulbous ass and a long nose protruding from one cusion. He heard Dirk mumble something about trying to hide those better next Thanksgiving.

            The boys settled themselves behind the stage and observed Dirk’s Pilgrim puppet entering from the left. There was a hole right where its stomach should be. Was it damaged? “’Yeah, so, Imma just claim this here land in the name of white imperialism and because I fuckin want it.’”

            Karkat flipped through the script and tried to read along with the lines so he would know when to enter, but whatever lines Dirk was saying weren’t in the script. He looked over at the Lalondes and neither looked surprised in the least that their material wasn’t being used.

            Jake’s Native American puppet entered from the right and, _oh thank god_ , he read from the packet, “You, there! This land belongs to us.”

            Dirk slid a finger out through the hole in his puppet’s stomach, “Yo. I’m here to spread some foreign diseases to your people, so let’s start with the sexual ones, shall we?”

            Jake blushed and fumbled with his script before whispering, “Oi, Strider! That isn’t in the script!”

            Dirk’s puppet crept slowly towards Jake’s puppet and _oh so that’s what the hole was for,_ “I’m gonna ride you like I rode the Mayflower, baby.”

             “S-sick from all the rocking?”

            “Oh yeah.”

            Dave pushed Dirk out of the way and took his place on stage. Dirk let out a curse and relented. Jake took the cue to leave the stage and Karkat brought his puppet alongside Dave’s, “Hey, Indian dude. How’s it goin.”

            This wasn’t in the script either, “Um…” _Whatever. Wing it for now,_ “I prefer Native American, you ass.”

            “Sure. Anyway, I was wondering since I need food so I don’t die, can you give me your big, juicy corn cob?”

            Karkat flipped through his packet, “Stop making shit up and follow the lines!” Karkat smacked Dave’s puppet with his own.

            “Lines are for squares,” Dave’s puppet body slammed Karkat’s.

            The two puppets started brawling until Karkat realized how ridiculous that was and just started hitting Dave with it instead. At some point during their smacking fit they found themselves rolling on the floor, wrestling with the damn puppets still on their hands, fingers interlocked and engaged in heated combat with their cultural counterpart. Dirk and Jake stood up and moved out of their way and Rose stared on smiling coyly.

            Eventually, Karkat had Dave pinned beneath him, panting, “Ha! Got you, you asslicker!”

            “Oh?” Dave stealthily brought his knee up and nudged at Karkat’s crotch. Karkat froze up. _Shit! He was hard. When had that happened?_ Dave noticed too and stopped moving.

            “Okay! Everyone to the kitchen to prep for dinner!” Dirk called out, “Jake, you can help me get the turkey out of the oven. Roxy, you can spike the punch. Rose, I don’t know what the fuck we’ll need you for but you come too.”

            “Oh, I’m perfectly fine here,” She crossed her legs and continued to peer down at Dave and Karkat like _they_ were dinner.

            “Rose! Kitchen. NOW,” Dirk’s voice was commanding and Rose carefully picked herself up and, pouting, evacuated the living room.

            Karkat moved off of Dave, “Y-You don’t think they noticed… do you?”

            Dave cleared his throat, “No. I mean, they could tell we were having a moment, but I don’t think they noticed…” Dave’s eyes trailed down to the bulge in Karkat’s pants, “That,” He swore, “Goddamit, Rose is gonna have a field day with this little debacle.”

            Karkat dropped his head in his hands, “I have never been so mortified.”

            “Hey, don’t worry about it. This is like, completely normal in my family. You walked in on my brother and his boyfriend sucking face. It’s fine. But just so you know, rule number two of the Strider household is still in place and you need to take care of that before dinner starts.”

            “That wasn’t some bravado you pulled from your ass? That was real?”

            “Yeah, you absolutely cannot come to the table with a boner. Dirk will flip. You can use my bedroom. It’s down the hall and the first door on the right. I’ll tell everyone you wore yourself out and you decided to take a nap.”

            “…This is so strange.”

            Dave grinned smugly, “Hey, I’m not the one who got the boner. My brother has a puppet fetish and I’m starting to suspect you might have similar tastes,” That would explain the stuffed abomination with the phallic proboscis in the couch, “Did you want help with that or…?”

            “I can handle it myself!” Karkat got up and quickly hurried to Dave’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, I'll post again in a week!


	15. Dinner and Karkat's Mom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprisingly, I am still being pretty consistent with these updates. So yeah. I worked on this one all last night cause I was busy the past week and I still wanted to get the new chapter out relatively on time. Enjoy!

            Dave got up and quickly moved in front of Karkat, making sure anything below Karkat’s waist was out of sight as he tried to duck into the hallway and escape to Dave’s room.

            “Hey! Where ya goin?” Dirk called out to him and he paused but didn’t turn around.

            Dave stepped further in between them and, giving the best poker face Karkat had ever seen, lied through his teeth, “Karkat got all tuckered out after our throw down. He’s gonna take a nap in my room before dinner.”

            Dirk seemed satisfied with the answer and Karkat thought that he had bought it until he saw the older man pat Dave’s shoulder and heard him whisper, “Are you sure you don’t want to take a “nap” with him?” Before sending a smirk in Karkat’s direction.

            Dave’s mouth curled up at the edges, “Yeah, pretty sure he wants to nap alone.”

            Dirk turned around and walked away, “Shame.”

            After sending Dave a grateful glance, Karkat made his way to Dave’s bedroom. When he opened the door he was amazed at how much it looked like it was still being occupied by an adolescent douchebag. There were some clothes strewn about here and there and an unopened bottle of apple juice sitting on the window sill. It just felt so lived in.

            He took his time walking over to the bed, patterned with the four suits someone would find in a deck of playing cards. Dave had a lot of posters, mostly things Karkat didn’t recognize. There were a few from webcomics he remembered old friends talking about, some really lame selfies of Dave as a cute kid, and doodles sprawled out on the walls of two misshapen guys that misspelled words intentionally.

            By far, the strangest feature of the room had to have been the shelves of dead, preserved things in jars. He couldn’t wrap his head around the appeal of collecting them, but it was something new that he didn’t know about Dave yet, and that concept in and of itself was enchanting.

            Karkat felt his face heat up and he swallowed. Oh yeah. He still had to take care of that. _Wait a second_. Curiously, he looked under Dave’s bed and found lube, tissues, and a porn magazine. Okay, so Dave was pretty open about where he left his masturbation material. He _did_ grow up in a household of only guys.

            Karkat really had no interest in the magazine, since it was full of nothing but girls, but he did take note of the theme of all the images. Almost every picture had a woman riding a man. Dave obviously had a thing for that particular position. Briefly, Karkat wondered if he could reach orgasm through stimulation from penetration alone.

_Well, why not try it?_ The little voice in his head was eating at his reasoning, egging him on with supporting details. _You have lube and a nice set of digits. Plus, lengthening this whole ordeal will ensure your “nap” was believable. You can’t just come out right after pumping it._

Karkat unzipped his pants. _THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR REFUSING YOURSELF RELIEF FOR A FEW WEEKS._ He shimmied out of his jeans and boxers and uncapped the bottle of lube. He looked around the room and found a discarded towel to put on the bed. He didn’t want to dirty it.

He made himself comfortable and poured some of the lube onto his fingers. It was cold and he was nervous. He hadn’t actually tried fingering himself before. Karkat positioned himself until he was on all fours and reached his hand back. He ran his dripping fingers around his rim and shivered. Gently, he pressed a finger in and curled it. He let out a whine and quickly muffled it into the bed sheets.

Carefully, he added another digit and started to pump and curl his fingers at an even pace. His heart rate picked up and he tried to slow down to control his breathing. The loss of movement made him frustrated. It was too slow for release, but if he went too fast he melted into the bed and didn’t want to move at all.

He picked his head up and looked around the room. Peeking out from the closet was a colorful, phallus-shaped item. Reluctantly, he removed his fingers and moved towards the object, pulling out one of Dave’s brother’s stuffed puppet things. Dave had said this thing was a sex toy. Was it creepy? Yes. But was it going to help him out? Unfortunately, yes.

He went back over to the bed and repositioned himself on his knees, straddling the puppet beneath him. With one hand he widened the entry of his ass and with the other he guided the puppet into him. When he felt it was practically all the way in he tried to sink down on it. It buzzed and he gasped. He stopped trying to move and fell forward, catching himself on the bed. Karkat examined the puppet and located a switch he had accidentally brushed up against on one of its hands.

He sat back up and pressed it again. The toy hummed to life and he bit his lip to fight back a moan. On shaky legs he pulled up and sunk back down. He carried out the motion, eyes fixed beneath him, wondering what it would be like if it was Dave he was riding. What kind of face would he be making? What kind of sounds would pass through his lips? How aroused would he be?

As thoughts of Dave filled Karkat’s head, he couldn’t hold back anymore. He reached for a tissue and came with a groan. Anything that he missed fell onto the towel. He pressed the button on the puppet’s hand and slowly pulled it out.  He had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

He picked up the towel and cleaned himself and the sex toy off as best he could. He hid the lube, tissues, porn mag and the puppet under Dave’s bed and threw the towel in the laundry. _Mother fucking hell. That felt surprisingly good._

After dressing himself and going to the bathroom to wash his hands, Karkat joined the Striders, Lalondes, and Jake in the kitchen. Everyone was just getting settled into their seats.

“You’re just in time!” Jake exclaimed. _It was the perfect crime,_ “Saved you a seat next to Dave and me.”

Karkat took his seat as Dirk and Roxy brought out a turkey and some sides. It was all very lovely until Dirk brought out his sword and severed pieces of meat from the bird like he was slowly carving a man’s flesh.

“Why can’t I serve the turkey?” Jake complained.

“Because I don’t like gunpowder in my food,” Dirk deadpanned.

Jake “tsk”ed and looked to Rose, “So, how’s your internet girl crush doing? Didn’t you want to invite her to dinner?”

Rose smiled and the expression was more sincere than anything Karkat had seen on her face so far, “She’s doing well. She just released a new line of clothing and it’s selling nicely. I asked her to come to dinner, but she said she had family obligations she needed to fulfill.”

Karkat leaned over to whisper conspiratorially with Dave, “Is everyone in your family more homo than average or what?”

Dave choked on his peas and reached for his glass of water.

“Speaking of interesting relationships,” Rose continued, “David, what are your intentions with Karkat?”

Karkat spluttered and Dave groaned.

Dirk chuckled, “You’re putting them on the spot, Rosey. Oh, who am I kidding? You know perfectly well what you’re doing. Plus,” He sat down and rested his chin on his hands, “I’m a little curious as well.”

Karkat shifted uncomfortably in his seat and Dave cleared his throat to speak, “We’re just friends,” His tone was hard and Karkat felt relief and disappointment wash over him, one after the other.

Dirk leaned back in his chair and smirked, “Shame.”

After dinner Dirk decided on the sleeping arrangements. He and Jake would be in their shared bedroom. The Lalondes would be in the living room and Dave and Karkat would be bunking in Dave’s old room.

“You okay with that?” Dave asked.

“Fine. Should I sleep on the floor?”

“Do you want to?”

“No.”

“Then don’t. We’ll share the bed and keep to our own sides.”

The plan was reasonable and Karkat trusted Dave enough to have the self-control not to try anything funny. Dave took the side facing the wall and in no time Karkat could hear his quiet and steady breathing. Karkat was about to drift off but the sound of consistent bumping and loud moans were echoing into the room.

_Oh god._

Dave’s brother and his boyfriend were having loud, violent sex across the hall. Realizing he wasn’t going to get any sleep, Karkat slipped out of bed and tiptoed down the hallway until he came upon the door he suspected led to the roof. He opened it and felt a small breeze hug him as it swept around him. Definitely led to the roof.

He climbed the steps and stumbled on a crooked floor board. He looked to the side and there was a crudely drawn picture of one of Dave’s doodled men taped to the wall warning him about the stairs. _A little too late for that, jackass._

He reached another door and curled his toes when he felt the wind creeping in from underneath. He opened it and moved onto the roof. It wasn’t exactly beautiful in the way a forest or a scene from nature was, but it had its own appeal. The Strider’s apartment towered over so many buildings, Karkat thought if he toppled off it would be like falling into a pit with spikes at the bottom. He sat down and pulled his legs in so he could rest his head on his knees and listened to the cawing of crows passing overhead. They must have a nest nearby.

“Damn crows,” Dave’s voice startled him out of his reverie, “Mind if I hang out here and chat? My bro kind of woke me up.”

It was probably a bit too sudden and blunt but Karkat had been meaning to talk to Dave about something for a while, “I… I can’t give you what you want,” He continued to look out over the city.

Dave was quiet for a moment and Karkat wondered if he was going to make a stupid comment about how he “only asked for his company and not a wedding ring” when his voice finally answered back more serious than Karkat thought he’d be, “Then give me what you want to give me because, honestly, I’ll be happy with whatever you can spare,” Dave let the words dissipate into the night air and then spoke again, “Terezi told me some things about your home life.”

Karkat breathed in deeply, “She would,” He smiled to himself, “How much do you know?”

“Well, I thought I knew a lot. You want to bring a girl back home to get your dad’s approval, right? But I just don’t know if that’s the whole truth. I don’t get why you try so hard. If he doesn’t accept you, isn’t that his problem?”

“Dave… You don’t understand.”

Dave walked over and sat down beside him, “Then can you fill in the missing pieces because, otherwise, I’m never going to solve this puzzle.”

Karkat felt a knot welling up in his throat but he managed to choke out words, “ _I_ killed my mom.”

Dave’s eyebrows furrowed, “What are you talking about? Terezi said it was your dad.”

“He pulled the trigger but she wouldn’t have snapped if I hadn’t-,” He sniffled and, goddamn it, he was crying now, “If I didn’t break her cigarette holder, she never would have hurt me and she never would have been killed.”

“Kat, this still isn’t making much sense,” Dave’s voice was soft.

“My mom was… She was in a gang, the rival gang of my dad’s. It was called The Felt and she was a pretty prominent member. They called her Snowman. She was feared and admired and she liked it. Her boss wanted to make peace with my dad’s gang, The Midnight Crew, so he married her off to my dad. She resented it. She missed her old life. All she had left was that fancy Felt cigarette holder and I accidentally broke it while playing too rough in the house. It was always perched up high on top of the china cabinet. And I bumped into it. Every goddamn single expensive dish in there rattled but didn’t fall or break. And the one, most important thing at the very top came down and broke in two. And when it broke she broke. I did that to her. I killed her. I took her away from my father. I-”

Dave cupped Karkat’s cheek and kissed him. It was soft and devoid of heat. It was meant to be comforting, not sexual. He brushed away his tears and looked him in the eyes, “You aren’t responsible for that, and I understand you’re going to think the way you’re going to think. But you have to know that I love you and even if you can’t tell me you love me I already know it and I know you know it. You don’t have to feel obligated to stay with me, but whenever you want me around I damn well am gonna be there.”

Karkat let himself fall into Dave’s shirt and wailed like a child, “I can’t- I can’t give you what you want.”

“I know. But I’m not leaving you for as long as you let me stay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading again!


	16. The Art of Seduction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy.

“Terezi, I honestly have no idea what to do,” Karkat was seated at a booth, trying to get the most out of his break. The coffee shop was running low on customers at the moment and Equius was out on business so he had left Nepeta and Karkat in charge until he returned, “Ever since we talked on the roof top he hasn’t really been speaking to me. He practically avoids me all together.”

“You really need to make up your mind on whether you want Dave’s attention or not. You also really need to give me the number of the cute cat girl that smells like chamomile tea,” She frowned, “even though she seems more invested in eavesdropping on your love life than mine.”

“You-you’re interested in Nepeta?”

“She’s cute, she impressively rattles off cat puns like no one’s business, and, yeah, she smells delicious.”

“Do you want me to put in a good word for you?”

“Fortunately, Karkat, not everyone needs to burden others with their struggles in romance. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy chatting with you and watching you squirm, but sometimes, when you come to me for advice or to vent, the answers seem pretty obvious to me. I’ll be right back,” She stood up and sauntered over to Nepeta, who stopped doodling on the notepad she used for writing down orders to perplexedly stare at Terezi.

“Did you want something else, miss?”

Terezi made a show of peering over to “see” the notepad, “Your doodles smell pretty good. I bet you’re a great artist.”

“You can… smell them?” Nepeta didn’t look uncomfortable, just confused.

“Yeah. All my other senses are extremely heightened since I’m blind,” Karkat swore her eyes just twinkled behind her red tinted shades, “Kind of like a cat’s,” _Oh, dear God. Who would buy into this pitiful flirting?_

Nepeta giggled, “If mew’d like, I can give you the drawing,” She clicked her pen and scribbled onto the notepad before ripping it out and sliding it over the counter.

Terezi picked it up, “Thank mew,” She strode back over to the booth and sat down, handing the slip of paper to Karkat, “Read me the number so I can put it into my phone.”

“How are you so sure there’s a number there?”

Terezi blew air out of her nose, “Just read me the damn digits. With any luck I’ll have a date this Friday.

Karkat sighed and read off the number, “I don’t know how you do it.”

Terezi hummed to herself in thought, “Well, when I want something, I just do my damnedest to have it. You overcomplicate things. Sometimes you don’t even need to try hard. Like your situation with Dave right now? You want some damn good advice? Fuck it all. If you love the guy and, you told me he definitely loves you, I don’t see what the fuckin problem is. You want to be with him? Fuck your father and do it. You don’t live with him anyway. And who’s gonna tell him? Do what you want until you actually hit a wall that isn’t some angsty, mental cockblockage.”

Karkat glared down into his coffee cup, “So, until my dad actually becomes a problem I should just go for it?”

Terezi didn’t answer. It wasn’t a question directed at her.

Karkat bit his lip, “But I’ve already fucked it all up. I told him I couldn’t be with him and now he won’t even look at me.”

“Talk to him about it.”

“I can’t.”

“Well, then, there is another option,” Terezi leaned over the table and peeked over the rim of her shades, “Karkat, it really isn’t hard to get a person’s attention. Seduce him. I bet Dave doesn’t last more than a week. I’d say a day, but I don’t think you’ve actually tried to seduce anyone before so it could take a few tries.”

“Seduce him… Okay. I can try that.”

“Dave doesn’t know what he’s in for. Also, I’m gonna need you to relieve your coworker now so she can have her break and talk to me about Friday.”

Karkat started his seduction plan as soon as he was home from work. It was Monday and Dave had probably been sleeping all day. The lazyass probably hadn’t eaten anything either. Feeling an uncharacteristic confident boost, Karkat strode into Dave’s room and loudly knocked on the doorway. Dave shot upright, startled with hair from hell. Karkat crossed his arms and threw his hip out a little, “I’m making dinner tonight,” The way to a man’s heart was his stomach, right? He dared Dave to make a challenging remark.

He looked a little thrown off but he nodded and groggily replied, “Okay. Alright. You’ve got the kitchen tonight. No problem.”

“You’re gonna eat it with me. So put some clothes on and get out there and set the table,” _Wow. That was so not sexy._

Karkat turned and left, watching Dave immediately hop out of bed in his peripheral vision. Well, at least Dave was listening to his demands.

Karkat had decided to make pasta, always a safe option and growing up in an Italian household, one of the only meals he was tremendously confident he wouldn’t screw up. As he began pouring water into a pot and setting it on the stove he asked over his shoulder, “Where are the spaghetti boxes?”

“Top cabinet on the far left,” _Perfect._ Karkat heard the clinking of plates on the table still, “Want me to get it?”

“Just finish setting the table. I’ll get the boxes,” Casually, Karkat reached up and opened the cabinet. The spaghetti was on the top shelf, way out of his reach. He stretched for it anyway and felt his sweater pull up and over his naval. Instead of pulling it down he went on tip toes and leaned over the counter below. He stuck out his ass a little and…

The sound of silverware hitting the floor filled his ears. A shadow fell over him and Dave’s arm extended over his and grabbed the boxes. He barely made any contact with Karkat as he set them down and went to pick up the forks he dropped. His ears looked red. _Damn it! So close._

Tuesday, Karkat was more than a little frustrated his first tactic had failed. He needed to do something bolder. When it was his turn to use the shower he made sure the bathroom was devoid of almost all drying paraphernalia.

After his shower he practiced some deep breathing and gave a pep talk to himself in the mirror. He donned Dave’s bathrobe, “Dave,” Karkat walked into his bedroom where he had been slumped over his turntables in thought, “I hope you don’t mind, but I need to do laundry and your robe was the only thing in there.”

Dave stiffened but didn’t move to look at him, “Uh, yeah, that’s fine.”

Karkat furrowed his brow and pouted, “Also, I’m out of sleeping attire until I do the wash so I was wondering if I could borrow a t-shirt? I probably won’t have to waste a pair of pants. They should be long enough to cover _mostly_ everything, right?”

Dave ran a hand through his hair and Karkat thought he heard him whisper, “Christ,” under his breath, “There, uh, in the third draw from the top,” He cleared his throat, “In the dresser.”

“Thanks,” Karkat took his time, peeking over at Dave as he de-robed and pulled on a t-shirt that came just to the bottom of his ass.

Dave swiveled around and his eyebrows shot up above his shades, “Do you need to borrow underwear too?”

Karkat smirked, “Nah, I think I’m good.”

He walked out of the room and half expected Dave to follow but he never did.

Wednesday, Karkat was desperate. He still couldn’t get up the nerve to talk to Dave about their relationship and in a moment of alcohol induced “intelligence” made an online purchase and paid overnight shipping to help him seduce Dave once and for all.

The package arrived Thursday morning and Karkat retrieved it from the front of the door before Dave got up and left the apartment. He kind of liked that the apartments didn’t have a set of mailbox lockers in the lobby. It was probably killer on the mailman though.

Dave was out meeting up with an out of town friend and Karkat was debating on whether he would actually use his purchase or not. Ultimately, the decision was a very firm no. He did, however, want to try it on before Dave got home. He _had_ paid for it after all.

It was a maid uniform, a frilly thing he had bought in the moment and now regretted deeply. He didn’t want someone to find it if he kept it so he thought about chucking it, but that would have been a waste of money.

He slipped it on piece by piece and fought with the ribbons, as he tried to tie every single loose one into a perfect bow. It came with a head piece that he was unable to adjust so it was centered properly, but maybe it was supposed to be off like that? There was a pair of thigh highs and Karkat fondly recalled Dave’s fervent and constant expressions of love for his legs. He’d probably enjoy the sight of them bunching up as he pulled them off and-

_No. NO, Back to business._

He slipped them on and went to observe himself in the full length mirror that hung in the hallway. His boxers were peeking out from under the dress. He didn’t have anything shorter. He discarded them and suddenly felt very naked and very erotic. Wow, the dress was short. If he bent forward even a little he’d be exposed.

The doorknob rattled and Dave stepped in. He froze, his grip on the knob tightening, his mouth slightly ajar.

Karkat was flabbergasted, “W-weren’t you meeting a friend?”

Dave took a deep breath and covered his mouth, the corner of it barely seen curving upward, “It started pouring and he cancelled. He didn’t want to ride the train in this weather,” They stood staring each other down for a while before Dave broke the silence again, “Do I want to know?”

Karkat flushed and put his head in his hands, “Oh my god.”

“I mean, I thought it was kind of strange how awful my self-control’s been these past few days, but now I’m startin to see why. Karkat, have you been trying to get my attention?”

“OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.”

“Because you successfully have it.”

“I fucked up. I thought maybe we could try and make us work for now and see where we went. I had trouble talking to you about it so I thought I could just ease us into a relationship without words… or something.”

“And this,” He gestured to the maid outfit, “is what you call “easing”?”

“Well, I wasn’t actually gonna wear it in front of you. It was an impulse buy. I bought a six pack last night after another failed attempt and then I thought… you might be into something like this.”

“To be honest with you, I’ve never given much thought to it,” Dave took his glasses off and his eyes were laughing, “But on you, I can see the appeal. I hope you’re prepared to deal with all of my well-kept sexual tension from the past few days,” His grin was contagious.

Karkat tried to hide his smile behind a pout and failed. _Oh well. Might as well go all the way now._ He curtsied, “Shall I show you to your chambers then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little late this time. Also, yeah I don't know why but I really liked Terezi and Nepeta happening in this fic. Sorry if no one ships it but I thought they'd be cute. When I finish this fic I might want to do a side fic with them as the main focus. Thoughts?


	17. Is This Real Life or Is This Just... VANTASY?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I hope everyone is doing well. Thank for continued readership as always! I don't know when I'll be posting the side fic of Terezi and Nepeta, but because of the positive responses I've received there will be one.

            Dave was towering over him in a matter of seconds, firmly grasping his arms in his hands, gentle but possessive. He kissed Karkat with force, pushing him back against the wall. It was deep and desperate, like they’d been starving for each other. Karkat moaned into Dave’s mouth and Dave trailed his hands down the back of Karkat’s body until they rested at the soft place where his thighs met his ass. He pressed a leg in between Karkat’s and grinded his knee against his groin.

            “Shit,” Karkat gripped onto Dave’s shirt and leaned forward to nip at his earlobe, “Don’t fuckin tease me like that,” He huffed.

            Dave muffled a chuckle into Karkat’s neck and grinded his leg up again. Karkat whimpered, “But you like it.”

            “Just…” Karkat took Dave’s hands and placed them at the top of his thigh highs, “Work on getting my clothes off.”

            “I’ll remove these because I like your legs but the rest stays on,” He kissed Karkat on his forehead and settled himself on his knees, “Lift your leg up and set it on my shoulder,” Karkat followed the order, “That’s a pretty view.”

            “Shut… up…” Karkat breathed out in between pants.

            Dave removed his shades and hooked them onto his shirt collar. Looking up at Karkat, he took the top of the thigh highs in his mouth and rolled them down his leg, making sure to gently graze his teeth on the skin, eliciting a shiver from Karkat. It finally bunched at his ankle and fell to the floor, “Now the other one,” This time Dave seemed to be taking longer, kissing the inside of Karkat’s thigh, dangerously close to more sensitive areas, all the while sneaking glances upward.

            His eyes had Karkat pinned to the wall. He was mesmerized and dared only to breathe. Soon the minimal contact had him squirming and he grew impatient, “Take it off already!”

            Dave smirked into his leg but did what he was told. He slid his hand up the dress’s skirt as he stood up, cupping Karkat’s ass and fondling it.

            “Jesus! I will fucking finger myself if you don’t hurry the fuck up!”

            Dave raised an eyebrow and removed his hands. They went up in a surrender as he took a step back and then crossed his arms, “You gonna make good on that threat?”

            Driven by the dare and the need for more pleasure Karkat reluctantly trailed a hand downward and slipped a finger inside himself. He struggled to find something to focus his gaze on. He felt Dave’s stare boring into him, too intense to make eye contact. He might actually catch fire if he risked it. He looked down and he saw his cock lifting the dress’s hem up ever so slightly. He wanted to touch himself, but he also wanted Dave inside of him as soon as possible.

He looked behind Dave and saw his reflection in the hallway mirror. He was red-faced, his hair was messy, and overall he looked like he exuded sex pheromones. He moved his hand faster and coaxed another finger in. Something about seeing himself like this in the reflection aroused him. Did Dave see him this way? Did he like seeing him this way? His heart rate sped up and his breathing was far from under control anymore.

“Right. That’s about all I can take,” Dave pulled Karkat’s hand away and pinned it beside his head, moving in to kiss him again. It was slower and more thorough this time. Dave’s tongue danced with his and he occasionally sucked at his bottom lip. Dave broke the kiss and pulled back frowning, “You’re crying. What’s wrong?”

Karkat wiped at his face and was surprised to find his hand came back damp. He had always been overemotional, but he never thought he’d be the type to shed tears during sex. He hiccupped, “I don’t know. I just- I feel really frustrated and I don’t know why. Can you just-,” Karkat hooked his fingers into Dave’s jeans and pulled their hips flush together, “Just do something more, _please_?” Karkat whined.

Dave took a deep breath and his ears reddened, “You... You really are something, you know that?” Dave turned Karkat around. Karkat braced himself on the wall as Dave gripped his hips. He bent over him and nuzzled murmurings into his ear, “ _God, I want you_.”

Karkat heard the sound of Dave’s zipper being undone and then Dave’s dick was grinding on his ass. A hand reached around and circled around his cock. It started travelling up and down, jerking him off, as Dave positioned himself at Karkat’s entrance.

Dave’s breathing was heavy in Karkat’s ear. He fervently whispered, “I love you,” and entered. Karkat called out Dave’s name, his fingers scrunching up on the wall in front of him. Dave pounding into him shook his whole frame. With every thrust Karkat came undone, becoming more desperate, needier. Dave could hear it in his voice and it drove him on, timing his movements with his hand’s, still lovingly wrapped around Karkat’s cock.

Karkat shuddered and came, moaning into the heated air around them as it echoed in the enclosed space. Dave brought up his unoccupied hand and entwined it with Karkat’s as he followed, muffling his groans of pleasure into Karkat’s shoulder.

They stood in place slumped over each other, panting and sliding down the wall until they were a pile of sweaty bodies on the floor. Dave rolled off of Karkat and sat back against the wall, “You still haven’t told me you love me.”

Karkat curled up next to him and rested his head on Dave’s shoulder, “I mff you…”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that.”

“I love you.”

“What was that?”

Karkat bunched his fist into Dave’s collar and pulled him down until they were making eye contact, “I SAID I LOVE YOU, YOU HUGE ASSHOLE,” His eyes widened in shock and he felt his face heat up with the realization of the meaning of the words he’d spoken.

Dave leaned down and planted a chaste kiss on his lips, “Love you too,” Dave’s eyes wandered down to the maid uniform, “So, now, I have two questions. The first is ‘am I ever gonna see you wearin this thing again?’ and the other is ‘bath or shower?’ when we decide to get cleaned up.”

Karkat sighed, “I think I’m retiring the maid uniform. It’s getting chucked. And as for your pretentious assumption that we’re going to be bathing together… a bath. I don’t think I want to stand right now.”

“So no shower sex? That’s alright. I can settle for cuddling in lukewarm bath water and sharing awkward boners. Shame about the maid uniform. Although, to be fair, any costume that comes with accessories designed to cover up your legs is practically criminal. Hmm… ‘Criminal’.”

“If you’re thinking about ordering a police uniform I’m gonna choke you.”

“Oh come on. Let me have my fantasies. My…”

“DON’T-.”

“ _Vantasies_.”

Karkat dug the palm of his hands into his eyes, “What did I get myself into?”

Bath time turned into a bubble war that ended with Dave and Karkat making out while both sported fake, foamy beards. But the taste of shampoo was unavoidable and disgusting and they discovered attempting to kiss with the faux facial hair had been a terrible mistake. Feeling more confident than he had in years, Karkat made a show of exiting the tub first and, dripping wet, threw on Dave’s robe only to pull it up to his thigh and dangle his leg out temptingly.

“I know this is gonna make me lose sexy points, but that just reminded me of Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove.”

Karkat immediately dropped the robe over his leg and shuddered, “If you even thought about having seconds tonight, I got some bad news for you, buddy.”

“Oh come on! I was just joking! Your legs are like way nicer than hers! Like, nicer than Kuzco’s even.”

“Really? Nicer than a fictional, and might I throw in animated, character’s legs? You really know how to woo a guy, Dave. Did you ever have problems getting dates in high school because you wouldn’t stop idolizing anime girls in your spare time? I can totally see you as the type to have a waifu, now that I think about it.”

“Ouch. Low blow, man.”

“You thought that was low? Oh, I’m just getting started. I could flame you a new one.”

“Hit me, trollzilla.”

“Did you overuse phrases like ‘kawaii’ and ‘nani’ all the time? I bet you did it under the guise of irony and one day you woke up in a cold sweat because you realized it wasn’t ironic anymore and you had become what you feared most.  A genuine, honest to God weeaboo.”

“Ooooh! Dude, I think you just brokoro my kokoro.”

Karkat snorted into his hand, “Dork. I still have a movie review to write so you can go to bed first if you want.”

“Alright. When you’re done, you’re totally welcome into the bed now, if that wasn’t already obvious.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Karkat walked back over to the tub and kissed Dave’s temple, “Good night.”

“Night.”

Karkat was surprised to find his review was a lot less rant-y than his previous ones. The movie was still bad and overly cliché but he was gentler on it and when he had to choose between giving it two or three stars he rounded up.

By midnight, he was tiptoeing into Dave’s room and watching the rise and fall of the sheets. He slipped into the bed and under the covers, snuggling into Dave’s heat. Dave, supposedly asleep, wrapped his arms around Karkat and hugged him to his chest. Karkat breathed in his scent and his head spun with memories from earlier that day. He felt safe and warm and like everything was going to be okay.

He drifted off just as his phone vibrated on the nightstand, a missed call and a voicemail, both to be seen and heard the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun DUUUUUUN.


	18. The Phone Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late! I'm in the middle of exams and they seem to be going smoothly. I just turned in an essay for one class so I thought I'd take some time to finish and post the new chapter. I still don't know how consistent I'm going to be with updates at the moment so please bear with me. Also, exciting news! I made it onto the homestuck shipping world cup (hswc) dave<3karkat team! I plan on finishing this fic before the hswc events begin so it won't interfere with updating. If you'd like to participate or vote for teams, I highly recommend joining in this summer!

            Karkat stood in his boxers, shivering in the bathroom, as the cold tiles stole the heat seeping from the soles of his feet. He was fiddling with his phone in one hand and applying toothpaste to his toothbrush, which was precariously perched on the edge of the sink, with the other. He had an unread voicemail. He squeezed the tube too hard when he saw the caller and a huge blob coated the bristles.

            It was his dad.

            He carefully closed the bathroom door so that it didn’t make any noises that might wake Dave. He couldn’t remember the last time his father had called him. He began to brush but kept the phone to his ear. A gruff and loud voice bellowed from the speaker and he panicked, immediately adjusting the volume.

            “Hey, kid. I know I don’t usually invite you to the annual Christmas shindig, and hell if you’d ever come willingly by yourself, but this year it’s mandatory. You know when and where.”

            _The Christmas party? The one that takes place as a peace keeping event between The Midnight Crew and The Felt? What the hell is he planning?_

            “And you know the drill. After you hear the message, get rid of your phone. Don’t complain. Just buy yourself a new one.”

            Karkat groaned. He had really liked his phone. He had just taken a picture of Dave’s bedhead and had set it as his background wallpaper. He deleted the voicemail and rinsed out his mouth. Something big was up. His father didn’t usually invite him to those sorts of things. Mostly because he knew Karkat hated going to them. And this voicemail had the worst timing. He was just getting used to the idea of being with Dave…

            Maybe…

            Maybe forever…

            Shit. He really needed help. He thought about his options. He didn’t want to bother Terezi. He always seemed to be asking her for help and he didn’t want to involve her in anything bad if his family was in some sort of trouble. He had also heard she was doing pretty well dating Nepeta and he didn’t want to interfere in whatever they had going on.

            He needed to keep it in the family. Kanaya. He found her contact information on his phone and sent her a message about needing to talk and how they should have lunch. He received a reply almost immediately. She was busy so it would have to be dinner. He sighed and messaged her an, “OKAY” back, satisfied with just being able to make an appointment with her. His phone was permanently stuck on caps, so maybe getting a new phone wouldn’t be such a bad thing. He sent Kanaya the picture of Dave and told her to hold onto it for him until he got himself a new one.

            A knock on the door jolted Karkat out of his stupor and he opened the door to a disheveled Dave, “Mornin,” He leaned down and kissed his cheek. Karkat’s stomach felt fluttery. The pleasant feeling was soon replaced with a prick of guilt. He couldn’t involve Dave in this.

            He stood up on his tip toes, snaking his arms around Dave’s neck and kissed him deeply.

            “Wow. Are you always this affectionate the morning after, or am I just catching you in a good mood?”

            “Shut the fuck up. You’re spoiling the moment,” Karkat traced the lines of Dave’s collar bone with his eyes, “I’m going to come home late tonight. I made a dinner date with my cousin, Kanaya.”

            Dave’s eyebrows pulled together in thought, “I think I’ve heard that name before. Have you mentioned her to me before?”

            Karkat thought back, “Maybe? I don’t think so. She was the one who dressed me when we went clubbing.”

            Dave chuckled, “I’m a fan of her already then. Enjoy your incestuous date night, Kat.”

            Karkat smacked him on the back of the head and scolded him, “Gross!”

            It was six when Karkat arrived at the restaurant and spotted Kanaya’s glossy, chocolate-colored head peeking out from the top of a booth. He sat down across from her and she looked a little worse for wear. She still exuded beauty, but he could tell she was tired, her brow furrowed.

            “So, did you get an invite to the Christmas party?” Karkat leaned over the table.

            “Yes,” Kanaya gave a one word response, obviously not willing to elaborate.

            “Any idea what’s up?”

            “Firstly, we aren’t eating here. We are getting things to go because I feel uncomfortable talking about our family in public. I’ve already ordered something for you.”

            “Where are we eating then?”

            “The shore,” Karkat nodded and the waiter brought over takeout boxes and a check. Kanaya reached for it before Karkat could say anything, “I’m paying.”

            Grumbling to himself, he picked up his takeout and followed her to her car. Their drive was long and silent. A heavy air hung around them. Eventually, they made it to Atlantic City, parked the car far from the beach, and walked the rest of the way to the beach. It was getting dark and cold. The shoreline seemed deserted and a calming sense of isolation crept up on them.

            Kanaya broke the silence, “Okay. I don’t know what your father is planning, but it is very strange that the gathering is now mandatory. I’m a bit scared to be honest. The last time it was mandatory was…”

            Kanaya paused. When Karkat’s mother died, things were tense among the mobs. To show that both sides were still on board with the truce everyone had had to attend.

            “I don’t get it! What the fuck do they have their knickers in a twist over?” He flung his phone into the ocean. _There. Disposed of for dear old dad_ , “What important asshole died this time? This only happened once before, right?”

            Kanaya’s eyes widened, “No.”

            Karkat blinked slowly confused, “What? When else did this happen?”

            Kanaya covered her mouth with her hand, “You weren’t born yet and I was very young, but, if I remember correctly, the other time occurred when your parent’s engagement was made and announced.”

            Karkat’s stomach lurched and he squatted down, his hands weaving into his hair, “I think I’m gonna be sick if this conversation is implying what I think it’s implying.”

            Kanaya knelt down beside him and started to rub soothing circles into his back, “Shh shh. It might not be that. Someone important could have died.”

            Karkat thought about what a terrible person he was, wishing death upon someone, rather than having to face a possible unwanted fiancée.

            “I can’t tell Dave,” The words tumbled out of his mouth in a panic, “He can’t know. I’ll go to the party, but I need to make sure he doesn’t find out.”

            Kanaya looked like she was at a loss, “But, Karkat-”

            “He can’t know!” Karkat gripped her arm almost painfully, “I’ll deal with it somehow. Put it off maybe. I don’t know, but I’ll manage to stop it if it comes to that.”

            Kanaya’s felt her gut wrench. She knew if Karkat were to stand in front of his father he would fold. Slick was a very intimidating man and rather than his own mob, it was Karkat who he possessed the largest influence on. But she just nodded and kept down the tears she felt coming on. Keeping them in made her nose sting and her throat felt clogged. Still she managed to speak comforting words she knew she didn’t mean, “That’s right. It’ll work out. You’ll be able to avoid it and then you can go back to being with Dave,” He fell into her arms and she felt his body shudder with a sob.

            When he was all cried out, Kanaya drove him to the restaurant’s parking lot where his car had been left. Kanaya handed him his takeout box. Eating had been pushed into the back of their minds so the boxes had remained full, “You’ll make it through this,” Kanaya pulled a sad smile and drove off.

            Karkat arrived home late and thoroughly exhausted. He had checked his face in the car mirror, making certain his eyes showed no signs of his earlier crying before he went in. Dave greeted him and Karkat set the takeout box on the table saying he could have what he wanted of it, but that he was going to bed. Dave shrugged it off and dug into his chicken parm.

            Later into the night the home phone rang. Dave picked it up on the third ring, “Sup?”

            “Mr. Strider?” A woman’s voice asked him.

            “Mr. Strider is my father. Please call me Dave.”

            “Hmm… She said you’d be charming… in an annoying way. David, then.”

            Dave felt his cheek bone twitch, “Only my sister calls me David.”

            “Ah! Yes. That’s actually how I obtained your number. You see I’m dating her. It’s long distance at the moment, but surely you’ve heard of me?”

            “You’re the fashion designer, right?”

            “That is correct. My name’s Kanaya Maryam.”

            “Kanaya?”

            “Yes.”

            “Are you in anyway related to a Karkat Vantas by any chance?”

            “He is my cousin,” Small world.

            Dave leaned back onto his kitchen counter, “Why exactly are you calling?”

            “I believe we have a common interest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3


	19. The Party (part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was very stressed today, and writing about something I enjoy helped me calm down. So guess what? You get a second chapter today. Look at that! Speedy updates during exam week. However, you should all know that this fic is approaching its end very soon. I left the number of chapters as unknown because 1) I originally didn't have the entire plot and I knew I'd keep thinking up new ideas as the story progressed and 2) I didn't know whether to add the TerezixNepeta fic as an extra chapter in this or if I wanted to maybe add an epilogue. So please enjoy!

            “So, any plans for Christmas?” Dave’s question caused Karkat to choke on his cereal. Dave raised an eyebrow, questioningly, the theatrics a little overdramatic.

            When he was done hacking up chunks of Frosted Flakes, Karkat turned to face Dave, “Actually… yes. There’s a movie premiering at midnight on Christmas and I need to watch it and write a review.”

            “Oh yeah? Need a date?”

            “I-I can’t take a date. It’s only open to movie reviewers. I already had to pull a few strings to get them to let me in, since it’s booked. I’m not allowed to take anyone,” Lying was starting to give Karkat a headache.

            Dave sighed, “Alright then.”

            “Are you disappointed?” Karkat heard his voice wobble. He would have liked to spend Christmas with Dave.

            “Well, yeah. I’m not gonna be with you for Christmas. That kind of sucks.”

            “But!” Karkat stood up from the table, “I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

            He held eye contact with Dave’s shades until Dave sighed again and relented, “Fine.”

            The days leading up to Christmas were long and fretful for Karkat. Dave hadn’t attempted to do anything more than kissing and pulling him into hugs. He felt guilt rise up like bile in the back of his throat. It made him physically sick at one point and he had to excuse himself while he was at work to empty the contents of his stomach in the employee bathroom.

            The day he had to leave for the party was the worst. He had to sneak into his own apartment and stuff his old tuxedo into a sports bag to change into later. Then he threw the load into his car and waited for Dave to get home so he could give him a goodbye.

            When Dave arrived home, he handed Karkat a small, shittily wrapped present, “I thought I should give this to you now.”

            He unwrapped it and waves of shame lapped at him as he looked at a cd labelled, ‘Karkat’s remix’.

            “I sort of threw together a few tracks for you. I know you don’t really like the loud stuff I play so it’s more calming than anything. I thought you might like it for when you need to get in the zone for typing out a review or getting absorbed in one of your romance books. It’s got the one I played after the night you collapsed in front of my door. From when I was keepin you up with my beats. I felt shitty about it and before I knew it I had composed an entire cd.”

Karkat was quiet, staring at the disk in bewilderment.

            “What? You don’t like it?”

            Finally he found his voice, “No! No, it isn’t that. I just-,” He reached up and kissed Dave, pulling him down forcefully by his shirt collar. He whispered, ‘I’m sorry,’s in between each one until he just stood there hugging Dave’s waist and trying not to cry.

            “Hey. No big deal, man. I wasn’t really expecting a present anyway,” Karkat took a deep intake of breath. Dave thought he was apologizing for not getting him a present!

            He pulled away and lifted the cd, clearing his throat, “Thanks. I’ll listen to it on my way to the showing.”

            He walked out the door and heard Dave call after him, “Come home safe.”

            Karkat pulled into an eerie warehouse lot around 11:55. The cd had calmed him down and he mentally steeled himself before going into the seemingly vacant structure nearby. The building was soundproof so the lot was silent. Upon opening the door, the sound of slow jazz enveloped him. Cans, a member of The Felt loomed over him threateningly as he entered, “Oh it’s the lil man,” He had a thick Irish accent. Most of The Felt had one to varying degrees, “Welcome to the party.”

            He slumped back into the chair he had posted by the door and folded his sausage fingers into his lap. As soon as he started walking into the crowded room, a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder. It was his Uncle Kankri. Kankri was Kanaya’s mom, Porrim’s, younger brother and he was notorious for being able to complain your ear off about anything and everything. He even complained on other’s behalves, whether they felt offended or not, “Karkat! It’s great to see you! How have you been? I’ve been great. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this great African-American organization I’ve been speaking out for lately-”

            “Uncle Kankri, you aren’t African-American.”

            “I know! But I can just imagine the struggles they’ve been going through.”

            “Listen, that’s great and all but,” Karkat looked around hurriedly, “Ah! There’s Crowbar! I need to go to speak with him. I’ll, uh, see you later.” _Not._

            Karkat pushed through the crowd and tapped the taller man on the shoulder. Crowbar turned around, cup of punch in hand, and grinned down at him, “Hey, Karkat. What can I do ya for?”

            “I told Kankri I needed to talk to you so I didn’t have to listen to him.”

            Crowbars grin widened and he snorted, “I got your back. But what are you doin here? You don’t usually hang out with us mobster folk.”

            “My dad told me I had to.”

            “I wonder if that has something to do with the new boss.”

            “New boss?”

            Crowbar leaned closer and spoke in hushed tones, “Lord English kicked the bucket. Died of an unknown cause. A real shame. His son took over the family business but to be honest with you, most of us think he’s not ready to lead. He’s really ambitious but he doesn’t exactly treat his sister well. You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats women.”

            Relief coursed through Karkat. There was a new head. Someone _had_ died. And most importantly, he didn’t have a fiancée. While he was musing over the surprisingly pleasant turn of events and sending thanks to Lord English, probably burning in hell, Crowbar stiffened and he heard his father call out to him, “Hey, boy! Get your ass over here!”

            Crowbar gave him a sympathetic look and shooed him off. Karkat walked toward his father. Slick was only taller than Karkat by a few inches. His mother had been the height of the family, leaving Karkat disappointed when he had stopped growing and learned he would be taking after his dad. But even without the height, Slick was still an intimidating figure. His hair was a dark, almost black, brown with bolts of grey shooting up the sides. He always had a handsome patch of scruff on his chin that he never shaved and never grew out enough for it to be called a beard. He wore a scowl and a serviceable black hat, one of the prominent symbols the main men of The Midnight Crew adorned themselves with to identify themselves. His right eye was covered with stitches that were in turn covered by an eye patch. Karkat had heard rumors about the misfortune and that it was his mother’s doing, back when the mobs had been at each other’s throats.

            Slick crossed his arms, his lankier and smoother right hand man, Droogs, standing by his side, lighting a cigarette, “You showed up.”

            Karkat frowned, “You told me I had to come.”

            Slick huffed and tapped his foot impatiently. He seemed to be waiting for something.

Or someone.

The new head of The Felt was the spitting image of his father. His head was bald and his aggression was twice as palpable as he made his way over to them. He moved with a limp. One of his legs was a prosthetic and he swung a cane around, rather than use it for its intended use. A plain faced, red-headed girl followed close behind him. She looked friendly but every once in a while she threw nervous glances over at The Felt Leader.

Slick gestured to the pair, “This is the new head of The Felt, Caliborn, and his sister, Calliope. Caliborn, this is my son, Karkat,” Calliope curtsied and Caliborn stuck out his hand. Karkat took it reluctantly. Caliborn’s grip was tight enough to actually hurt. Karkat suspected he was probably overcompensating.

“I’m looking forward to the wedding,” Caliborn smiled maliciously.

Karkat’s heart rate picked up, “Wedding? What wedding?”

Slick groaned and smacked his face with his palm, “Christ! I was gonna ease him into it,” Karkat’s father turned to him, “There’s a new head of The Felt. You know what that means? It means a new era for their mob. The old policies between mobs don’t have to be kept when the head that made the promises is dead. We need to reinstate a peaceful relationship.”

Caliborn pointed to Calliope with his cane, “That’s why you’ll be marrying my sister,” She smiled reassuringly, eyes tinged with pity.

Karkat’s vision blurred, “Isn’t this kind of sudden?”

“So was my father’s death. So is anybody’s death really,” His tone was threatening.

Karkat leaned in and whispered in a serious manner, “Did you kill your father?”

Caliborn erupted into laughter, “Fuckin Christ! This guy’s great!” He reached out and slapped Karkat on the back a bit too rough, “I think our families are going to get along fine!”

Caliborn strode away, triumphantly. Before his sister could follow she rolled her eyes and mouthed a ‘sorry’. Well, at least Calliope wasn’t that bad. No wait. He had to stay focused. He couldn’t give in to his father. How was he going to get out of this mess?

“Hey, Karkat,” His father’s voice pulled him out of his musing, “When’s your cousin getting here? Porrim won’t stop askin and if I hear Kankri complain from across the room one more time about how she’s micromanaging him to take out the stress of not having an egg in the nest anymore, I’m gonna fuckin kill someone,” The men huddled around Slick took a step back. He was known to have a temper.

“Kanaya said she’ll be coming. I bet she’s just fashionably late.”

“Yeah, she’s all about that fashion thing, isn’t she?” He squinted behind Karkat’s shoulder, “Oh! Speak of the devil! Here she comes now! Would you look at that? Kanny brought herself a date.”

Karkat faced the door and he nearly thought he was going to have a hot flash. Kanaya was arm in arm with Dave. He felt a cold and uncomfortable sweat start as they strolled over. Kanaya let go of Dave and hugged Slick, “Uncle Slick!”

“Kanny, beautiful as always. Just like your mom.”

She smiled mischievously.

“And you are?” Slick’s good eye focused in on Dave.

“Dave Strider. I’ll be escorting Ms. Maryam this evening.”

“Strider? Why do I feel like I know that name from somewhere?”

“We’re a pretty noble and well-known family,” Dave smirked.

“What a cocky bastard. Well, as long as you treat your partner right,” And here Slick gestured to Kanaya while Dave glanced at Karkat, “I don’t have a problem with you.”

Dave held Karkat’s steady gaze from behind his shades and his smile widened, “Oh I intend to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't know when I'll be posting again. Hopefully within a week. No promises and thanks for reading! I always enjoy reading your comments and feedback so thank you for those as well!


	20. The Party (part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a ride guys. This is the last chapter.

“I think it’s about time we settle down to eat,” Slick led the group to a long table shrouded in a black cloth in the center of the room. He took his place at the head of one end and his crew gathered around him. Karkat sat down across from Porrim. Dave took the seat next to Karkat so that he was facing Kanaya who was seated elegantly next to her mother.

Caliborn sat at the head of the other end of the table surrounded by his Felt members. Calliope was next to him, annoyance clear on her face as her brother began eating without waiting for everyone to take their place at the table.

“So, Karkat,” Clubs Deuce leaned over Hearts Boxcars plate to speak with him. Boxcars growled deep in his throat but Deuce continued, oblivious, “How do you like your fiancée? She’s a real looker, in a homey way.”

“Uh, yeah. She’s very pretty,” Karkat felt a hand slide over his thigh under the table. He jumped a bit in his seat and everyone looked at him, startled, “Sorry! I thought I saw a bug,” He tried to elbow Dave in the ribs but Dave showed no outer signs that the blow had hurt. His hand travelled further up Karkat’s leg.

Slick gave Dave a glare, “So, Mr. Strider, what are your intentions toward our Kanny?”

“I’m her escort for the evening upon her request,” His hand found Karkat’s crotch and he rubbed Karkat through the fabric. Karkat choked on his drink. His father eyed him suspiciously.

“Hey, kid. You okay?”

“Fine. I just-,” He stood up from the table, “I need to use the restroom. Please excuse me.”

He started to walk away when he heard Kanaya address Dave, “He didn’t look so hot. Maybe you should check up on him?”

Karkat hurried to the restroom, angrily throwing the door open and checking the stalls to make sure he was alone. Clover walked in a second later with Dave close on his heels.

Dave grabbed Clover by the scruff of his shirt and turned him out of the bathroom, “We’re going to need a minute.”

“But I need to pee! I’m the luckiest son of a bitch in the world. I’ve been blessed by my ancestors. You can’t do this to me! I’ll give you bad karma!”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have to be particularly unlucky to get booted out of the bathroom when you gotta take a piss,” He shoved him out the door and turned to face Karkat. He took off his shades and set them on the sink. He looked pissed.

Karkat clenched his fists, staring back defiantly, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Dave closed the distance between them and interlocked their lips, shoving Karkat back against the tiled wall. He moved his leg in between Karkat’s and Karkat gasped, opening his mouth and letting Dave’s tongue gain entry. Dave sucked on his bottom lip and he whimpered, desperately needing more contact. He wove his fingers into Dave’s soft hair and Dave suddenly pulled away. Karkat slid down the wall, breathless and half hard.

Dave stared down at him smirking, “ _That_ was revenge for lying to me,” He leaned down and lightly pecked Karkat’s lips one more time, “ _That_ was because I love you. And _this_ , “ Dave opened the bathroom door and put one foot out. He picked up his shades and donned them once more, “is punishment for making me worry,” He walked out, leaving Karkat badly needing release.

Clover came in a moment after and stopped in his tracks, staring down at Karkat, “Karkat, you look positively indecent,” He leaned on the sink, “Are you trying to seduce me?”

Karkat stood up and brushed past him, “Clover you’re a terrible flirt. You may be the luckiest bastard I know but you’ll never actually _get lucky_.”

Clover went pale and Karkat left him to think about the fucking bomb he had just dropped on him. When he reached the table again he wasn’t hungry anymore. Everyone was finishing eating and enjoying idle chitchat.

Karkat’s father took notice of his return, “Hey, boy. I have a suggestion to make about your engagement,” Karkat stiffened, “I was thinking you could move back into our house until the wedding. You’d be closer to your future wife. Get to know her more, you know? Caliborn wants the marriage ceremony to happen as soon as possible and I’d rather you be on good terms with her first.”

Karkat was panicking. He opened his mouth to reply.

“No.”

There was no sound that had escaped him. The voice wasn’t his.

It was Dave’s.

Slick looked over him, aggression leaking from every pore, “What the fuck did you just say?”

“I said ‘no’. He can’t marry her.”

“And why the hell not?” The room went silent. Someone had even stopped the jazz record that had been playing.

“Well, first of all, he’s gay. Your kid likes romance novels and cries while watching chick flicks. There were signs, man. You can’t keep deluding yourself on that.”

Karkat groaned and brought a hand up to his forehead, “Oh god.”

“And second,” Dave paused, looking at Karkat, “I’m in love with him so I can’t really allow it.”

Slick pulled his pistol from the inside of his jacket and aimed it at Dave. Every other mobster in the warehouse seemed to pull a weapon from somewhere on their person and with a click settled their line of fire on Dave as their target, “You fuckin my son?!” Slick’s voice echoed around the entire room.”

Karkat felt like he was going to vomit, “OH GOD.”

Dave had thrown his hands up when the guns had targeted him. He looked calm, “Yeah. I’m fuckin your son.”

“You son of a-.”

Without thinking, Karkat stepped in front of Dave and faced his father, lining himself up with the trajectory of Slick’s gun.

“Karkat, get out of the damn way!”

“No!”

Slick was thrown off. Karkat had never talked back to him, “Get the fuck outta the way! I’m gonna fill this bastard full of holes.”

“You will not,” Karkat shakily walked over to Slick and reached out to grab the barrel of the gun. He aimed it at his heart, “If you’re gonna kill him for loving me, then I am infinitely more guilty, since I’m the reason mom’s dead.”

Slick tried to pull the gun away from his son but Karkat held it firmly to his chest, “Kid, what the hell are you goin on about?”

Karkat took a deep breath, “I broke mom’s Felt cigarette holder. It was my fault she snapped. It was my fault that you shot her.”

“Karkat…” Slick’s voice lowered and the grip on his gun loosened, “Listen, kid. Your mother was unwell. She didn’t like being forced into the marriage and as far back as I knew her, she was fuckin nuts. We hated each other. And the marriage didn’t help anything.”

“So you think forcing me into a similar marriage isn’t going to be detrimental to my mental health?” Karkat’s voice went up an octave and Slick remained quiet, “I’ve tried to be everything you wanted in a son to make up for mom’s death, but I can’t pretend anymore. I can’t give you what you want. I can’t make you happy or proud. I’m in love with _this fucking idiot_ ,” He gestured to Dave.

“Hey!”

“Shut up!” Dave closed his mouth and pouted.

“I’m gay and I’m sorry it took so long for me to really come out to you… And I’m sorry that it had to happen in front of all your work colleagues,” Karkat’s speech teetered off at the end when he remembered he was in front of a crowd of almost everyone he knew. Still he continued on, “But I can’t marry Calliope. And I can’t let you shoot Dave.”

Slick yanked his gun out of Karkat’s hand, “Fuck!” He threw it to the ground. The other mobsters mimicked him, unnecessarily tossing their weapons to the floor. He reached out and pulled Karkat into a hug by his sleeve, “You’ve got a lot of guts, kid. Not even most of my men would have the balls to stand up to me let alone stare down the barrel of a gun and ask to be shot. I don’t really know about all this gay stuff but… I love you,” He held him tighter, “And I’m so proud of you,” Karkat felt his eyes water, “Don’t get all weepy on me cause I’m not good with this sappy shit. Plus, you’re a man and my son so present yourself like it,” Finally, Slick released him and turned to Caliborn who was keeping busy, fiddling with his phone and leaning against his cane looking absolutely bored, “Hey, Caliborn, you heard my son, right? We can’t go through with the wedding.”

Caliborn slipped his phone into his pocket and sneered, “Then I hope you’re ready for our little treaty to be broken. You okay with that?”

Karkat felt a cold sweat drip down his back. Shit. He may have convinced his dad but he also might have started a mob war. Slick remained composed and a smile crept up on his face. Smiles on Slick looked dastardly, “Caliborn, I thought you were above all that.”

“Above all what?” Caliborn looked confused. What was Slick playing at?

“What I mean is, why involve a woman in the dealings of men at all? It isn’t like a marriage between a man and a _woman_ can be stronger than an agreement between gentlemen,” Now Karkat was confused. His father was a feminist. He greatly respected the women in his crew and even campaigned for wives to be initiated if they wished with the slogan, ‘Bring your wife and trouble. It will never trouble you. Make her a member of the Midnight Crew.’

But Caliborn’s eyebrows rose and he smiled, “Of course! An agreement between men would be stronger than any girly marriage. This really is a new era for The Felt. We’ll draw up the truce on paper with a council of men. No women involved!” He looked to his sister who feigned looking upset by her brother’s change of heart.

Slick leaned in to whisper to Karkat, “Caliborn is notorious for being a misogynistic prick. He’s also kind of an idiot so just leave the mob problems to me.”

“Thanks dad,” Karkat couldn’t believe how crafty his old man was.

Slick waved him off, “Just get outta here with your partner before I shoot him for stupidly wearing Aviators indoors and at night. Been driving me crazy all throughout the party.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind if you did. They make me crazy too,” Karkat grabbed Dave’s hand and waved to Kanaya as they ran out of the warehouse and into the parking lot. The air was cold and he shivered, searching around in the dark for his car.

“It’s over there,” Dave pointed.

“How can you even see that with your shades?”

“What is it with you and your dad hating on them? Yeah, I heard you two chummin it up over that mutual point of hatred. Your family is wack. I think I made a good impression though.”

“You’re an idiot,” Karkat stood up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek, “I love you.”

Dave slid into the driver’s seat with a silly grin plastered on his face, “I better hear that more than once.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Karkat teased hopping in the passenger’s side.

When they arrived back at Dave’s apartment, there was a note taped to the front door. It was addressed to Karkat, “What’s it say?”

Karkat read it out loud, “’Mr. Vantas, your apartment has been cleaned and repaired. It’s once again availa-bubble for you to move in. Sincerely, your landlord, Feferi Peixes.’”

The two exchanged glances and laughed, “So am I helping you move your stuff in here tomorrow or?”

“Yeah, I’d like that. I’m also gonna have to tell her I’m not gonna be staying there anemone-more,” Dave snorted, “But, you know, it’s kind of a shame. I was so excited to start living on my own, making my new place a home I wanted to come back to every day, and I barely got a chance to before I wanted to start living with you.”

Dave wrapped his arms around Karkat’s waist and pulled him close, “I wouldn’t worry too much over it. If you stay with me, you’ll always be close to home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read this. I'm so happy and grateful for all the positive feedback I've received while writing this. I really loved this fic and I'm gonna miss writing it. I'm gonna post the Terezi/Nepeta fic as a seperate work so look for it if you're interested.


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